Over 10,000 tons of Peruvian blueberries have been exported since the start of the blueberry season in March, which is in line with Proarándanos‘ projections.
Proarándanos, a Peruvian blueberry export trade association estimates more than 250,000 tons of the fruit will be shipped by the end of the season.
Over 90 percent of blueberries are forecast to be exported between August and December, and 50 percent between September and October alone.
As of the first week of May Peru had exported 219,706 tons.
China has been the main export destination, closely followed by the U.S. representing 37 percent and 34 percent of exports respectively. Europe accounted for 13 percent of exports, the UK, for 9 percent and other destinations, for 8 percent.
In addition, 92 percent of exports were shipped by sea, while 8 percent were sent by air, and organic crops accounted for 9.2 percent of total exports.
Currently, 44,480 acres are used for growing blueberries.
Countries in the Southern Hemisphere achieved a new export record of 1.5 million tons, an increase of 0.3 million tons in a decade during the 2021-22 table grape season, according to a report by TopInfo.
Chile
This season Chile managed to recover from a sharp decline in 2020-21 thanks to better weather and new plantations which entered into production. Exports stood at 600,000 tons, which although far from its glory years when exports reached 800,000 tons, is similar to 2019-20 numbers.
Export destinations remain stable with just over half of the shipments going to North America, 22 percent to Asia, 16 percent to Europe and 7 percent to Latin America.
The trend towards red and patented varieties continues with 43 percent of grapes exported being red seedless. White grapes amounted to 24 percent of exports and black grapes, mainly seedless, 12 percent. Red Globe continues to contribute 20 percent of Chilean exports, being sent to Asia, Latin America and Europe.
Peru
Unlike neighboring Chile, Peru’s export volumes have increased fivefold, jumping from 150,000 tons exported 10 years ago to 530,000 tons this season.
While 10 years ago 75 percent of Peru’s exports were Red Globe, in the last season it barely reached 24 percent of the total, being overtaken by new seedless varieties. Now, patented varieties account for half of the shipments, with Sweet Globe standing out. In contrast to Chile and South Africa, where patented rosés predominate, in Peru whites are most popular.
Moreover, there has been a strong shift towards the U.S., with 45 percent destined for North America this season compared to 26 percent in 2011. Europe reduced its share to around 25 percent, while Asia’s increased to around 15 percent.
Brazil
Brazil has been regaining exports with 63,000 tons being exported in 2021-22, a volume that doubles the low values reached between 2014-15 and 2016-17. Again, there has been an increasing move towards proprietary varieties. From the strong predominance of traditional whites, there is a shift to patented whites and rosés.
Europe continues to be by far the main destination, although its dependence has decreased in recent years. In the last season Europe received 78 percent, 15 percent North America and 7 percent Latin America.
South Africa
On the other hand, South Africa has been recording steady progress in its table grape industry for years. Thanks to its 5 diverse growing regions and wide supply period, exports this year reached 350,000 tons for the first time, 50 percent more than 10 years ago.
Currently, two thirds of exports are made up of new varieties, with pink varieties such as, Scarlotta, Tawny, Sweet Celebration etc., dominating in particular. Patented pinks, along with the classic Crimson and Flame account for half of exports, white varieties, one third and black varieties, 15 percent.
South Africa continues to be heavily dependent on the European market, which received 76% of exports in 2021/22. Efforts are being made to diversify export destinations, particularly in Asia which received 12 percent of exports.
More than 13,000 refrigerated truckloads of North Carolina’s sweet potatoes are shipped each season.
With big volume every month of the year, North Carolina sweet potato growers easily account for the biggest share of orange vegetable supply. In 2020, North Carolina accounted for about two-thirds of total U.S. sweet potato truck shipments reported by the USDA, followed in volume by Mississippi (16%), California (11%) and Louisiana (6%).
North Carolina’s harvested sweet potato area in 2021 was 104,700 acres, producing yields of 175 cwt per acre and total production of 18.32 million.
According to USDA shipment numbers from 2021, November is the top month for North Carolina sweet potatoes, accounting for 11.3% of total crop movement that year.
The percentage of the total North Carolina sweet potato crop shipped, by month, in 2021, according to the USDA:
Representatives from Holt Logistics Corp. marked the occasion with a brief dockside reception alongside trade representatives and other business leaders from both countries.
Holt Logistics reported the historic arrival of fresh lemons from Argentina brings yet another high-quality source product through the Port of Philadelphia.
The arrival represented years of negotiations between commercial and safety interests surrounding the import of fresh goods into the United States.
The M/V Baltic Erica departed from the Euroamérica port complex near Buenos Aires on Friday, July 9, bound for the United States, arriving July 22. The vessel discharged at Gloucester Terminals in Gloucester City, New Jersey carrying 3,273 pallets containing a total of more than 3,700 tons of lemons.
The shipment of fresh lemons to the United States is unprecedented and novel for the country, since the merchandise is sent directly in a hold ship to the port of Philadelphia.
The pallets of lemons from Argentina are the first ever to enter the United States under a new agreement between the USDA and Senasa.
The Port of Wilmington (DE) is situated where the Delaware and Christina Rivers meet, about 60 miles from the Atlantic Ocean on the East Coast. It is operated by the state-owned Diamond Port Corp.
The port annually produces $436 million in business revenue; and $409 million in personal income for the state and the region. It’s responsible for 5,900 jobs and generates $41 million in annual taxes.
It handles about 400 vessels annually with an import/export cargo tonnage of more than 6 million tons. The Port of Wilmington is the United States’ leading port for imports of fresh fruit, produce, and juice concentrate, and it is the world’s largest port handling bananas. In fact, it handles more than 200,000 TEUs carrying fresh fruits and concentrates each year.
During the winter, the Port of Wilmington receives table grapes, peaches, plums, applies, nectarines, pears, and other fruits from Chile. In the spring, fresh apples, pears, and kiwifruit arrive from New Zealand and Chile. In the fall, Moroccan clementines arrive.
Wilmington is located at the heart of the East Coast, just minutes from major highways, providing shippers with overnight access to major markets.
Because of its location, the port plays a vital role for produce companies throughout the East Coast, providing quick and easy access to a huge consumer market.
The owners of the port are looking to expand, with plans in motion of redeveloping the Chemours Edgemoor industrial site in Edgemoor, DE as a shipping container site with Gulftainer. The state has granted permits to allow for a 112-foot wide by 2,600-foot long wharf to be built, along with dredging the berth and access channel 45 feet below mean low water, and installing 3,200 feet of bulkhead along the shoreline.
This will allow a facility to hold a capacity for 1.2 million container slots, with upward of 4,000 plus being refrigerated.
Expansion is needed because the port is doing record business and seeing more ships come in than ever before.
Manfredi Cold Storage of which of Kennett Square, PA and Pedricktown, NJ, reports the Port of Wilmington experienced an increase in cargo moving through the past two years.
Iceberg, romaine and romaine hearts have been impacted by the **INSV Virus and **Fusarium along with other viruses that have taken over the fields this past month throughout the Salinas Valley, according to a market alert by Produce Alliance, a produce brokerage firm in Chicago.
INSV Virus is a plant virus that is passed from field to field by insects. Fusarium is a soil borne fungus, which causes the lettuce heads to die from diseased roots.
These viruses are not allowing product to fully develop and in many cases, causing growers to disc entire fields. Growers are working to put only the best product available in the boxes, and bring the best quality into the plant for processing as crews have been working diligently in the fields to leave any affected product behind.
Still, lettuce haulers are urged to be extra cautious and observance of lettuce being loaded onto their truck.
For the lettuce fields designated for processing, that are currently unaffected by the disease, there is some variation in core sizing/growth, where some cores are curved in the head of lettuce making it a bit difficult for crews to see as they remove what they can in the field. This means, harvesting at an extremely slow pace to minimize the risk as much as possible. Growers are having to place additional inspection on the lines to cull out any defects not removed in the field.
Currently, the market is in a demand exceeds supply situation due to lighter supply industry wide and a very unstable market situation is expected to continue for the remainder of the Salinas season.
Some weeks will be better than others, but as the local seasons finish for the year, this will put more pressure on California, increasing demand on already shorter crops.
Green leaf is starting to feel the effects of this situation as well as available supply is getting shorter. Red leaf and butter lettuce may be affected working through the balance of the season, but currently, quality issues are not as severe.
As August is moving along, kids are back to school, summer is passing by, and fall is quickly approaching, the time is near. Pumpkin season. Here in Georgia, that harvest calendar runs from September 15th through November 15th , only a short five weeks!
Pumpkins are a part of the gourd family, which includes watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, zucchini, and honeydew. Northern Georgia has the lion’s share of acreage, over 600, of the pumpkin crop, though southern farmers are picking up the pace to join their neighbors to the north. Illinois does hold the
record as the pumpkin king, in 2020 they increased the area used to grow pumpkins to 15,900 acres, producing over twice as many as their next closest competitor!
In the next few weeks, drivers will begin positioning down to the southeast, pack their bags, finish pre-trips and start their engines. It has been a hot summer in the South, and many of us are hoping for a cooler fall and smoother roads to travel. Depending on the size of the crop, the harvest will move up
from Georgia and head north and the drivers and workers will follow.
Allen Lund Company has been hauling pumpkins out of Georgia for decades now, working with many of the same drivers’ year in and out. We have built some close relationships, knowing about their trucks,
where they came from, their family, and what their plans are for Halloween. Family is important to us here at Allen Lund. This fall take a day, carve a pumpkin, spend some time laughing and smiling with your loved ones and make sure to thank the farmers who grew it and the drivers who moved it for you!
****
Derek Robinson is a business development specialist in the Savannah office and has been with the Allen Lund Company since 2015. Robinson attended Savannah Technical College, specializing in Aviation Structural Mechanics.
ATHENS, GA – Carrier Transicold has rolled out new capabilities for its digital platform, now rebranded as Lynx® Fleet, giving North American refrigerated trucking operations more comprehensive monitoring capabilities for their refrigerated trucks and trailers.
The new Lynx Fleet offering enhances the prior web-based application with an at-a-glance view of refrigerated truck and trailer performance parameters. These visual indicators help fleet managers easily monitor transport refrigeration equipment utilization, improve operational efficiencies and maximize uptime by spotting and averting potential equipment issues.
Formerly called eSolutionsTM , Lynx Fleet for North America’s refrigerated trucks and trailers is part of Carrier’s award-winning Lynx global ecosystem, which applies advanced internet of things (IoT) analytics, machine learning and various big data technologies to connect the cold chain in the cloud, automate key processes and deliver real-time visibility and insights throughout the cargo’s journey.
“Lynx Fleet continues to open up broad possibilities for value-added capabilities,” said David Brondum, Director of Telematics, Truck Trailer Americas, Carrier Transicold. “Our exclusive dashboard is a terrific example. From temperatures maintained in cargo areas to refrigeration equipment performance, Lynx Fleet monitors and collects scores of inputs from every asset – thousands of data-points fleetwide. It then distills, analyzes and consolidates much of this mission-critical data into different insights so fleet managers can quickly spot assets that may require special attention.”
Prioritized based on customer input, the initial rollout provides key insights: • Low Fuel Level – Provides visibility to refrigeration units that require fuel, helping to avoid emergency call outs for refueling and engine priming. • Low Battery Voltage – Identifies the number of units in service that may have battery issues, which could result in an emergency call out if not addressed soon. • Active Shutdown Alarm – Alerts to critical alarm conditions that will cause a refrigeration unit to shut down, helping fleets to prevent load loss. • Door Metrics – Assists fleet in understanding the number of times cargo doors are opened over a period of time to help manage fuel costs and temperaturecontrol issues. • Asset Run Hours – Helps fleets balance asset usage and manage maintenance based on engine run hours and other factors.
“Each insight displays summary information for the entire customer fleet that can be drilled down to isolate and display details about specific units, as needed,” Brondum explained. “Over time, fleets will be able to customize their dashboards to display whichever pieces of information are most essential to their operations.”
Hardware used with the Lynx Fleet platform is factory installed on Carrier Transicold X4™ series and Vector™ 8000 series trailer and rail refrigeration units. Dealer commissioning and data plan are required. The Lynx Fleet “monitor and enhanced control” data plan includes the diagnostic dashboard and insights, along with premium capabilities for data downloads, remote software updates and more.
Lynx Fleet data can be easily shared with most major transportation management systems (TMS). For fleets with custom data platforms, Carrier Transicold offers growing API (application programming interface) capabilities that facilitate the integration and display of data collected by Lynx Fleet.
For additional details about Lynx Fleet turn to the experts in Carrier Transicold’s North America dealer network.
Carrier Transicold Carrier Transicold helps improve transport and shipping of temperature-controlled cargoes with a complete line of equipment and services for refrigerated transport and cold chain visibility. For more than 50 years, Carrier Transicold has been an industry leader, providing customers around the world with advanced, energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable container refrigeration systems and generator sets, directdrive and diesel truck units, and trailer refrigeration systems. Carrier Transicold is a part of Carrier Global Corporation.
Portal Portuuario reports a majority of observers expected the growth of Peruvian vegetable exports to continue this year.
However, between January and May 2022, vegetable shipments totaled $365 million, showing a drop of 3 percent compared to the last year.
Asparagus and artichokes accounted for 63 percent of the exports.
Asparagus, so far this year, has added a total of 46,570 tons valued at $131 million, 2 percent less in volume and 7 percent less in value, becoming the product that drove the reduction.
Artichoke shipments reached 13,420 tons for $35 million, 35 percent more in volume and 43 percent more in value.
Until 2016, vegetable shipments had sustained a growth of 7 percent on average each year, reaching a maximum value of $839 million, a record for Peru.
The following two years, 2017 and 2018, were complicated due to “El Niño Phenomenon”, causing vegetable exports to contact by 2 percent on average each year, reaching a value of $798 million.
Despite this, Peruvian vegetables recovered and in 2019 reached $845 million, 6 percent more than the previous year.
The positive effects were repeated the next two years, despite the pandemic. Exports increased 7 percent on average during 2020 and 2021, breaking a record by adding $973 million last year.
This trend came to an end in 2022 with a 3 percent contraction.
The Oppenheimer Group’s Oceanside Pole label is increasing its roma crop this season, according to a news release.
With nearly 2.2 million cases of rounds and over 1.6 million cases of romas expected to be picked from one million poles on 800 acres near Oceanside, CA, Oppy is now shipping the Oceanside Pole label.
The case count of romas grown on poles is up 500,000 compared with last year, Oppy’s senior sales representative James Galindo said in the release. “Oceanside Pole label romas are quickly becoming recognized as the best out there — particularly for their deep red color and firmness,” Galindo said in the release.
Peak volume picked up the middle of August, and will continue until the end of October.
Oceanside is the only large-scale pole-grown operation remaining in California, the release said. The growing method raises fruit off the ground to improve airflow and quality while naturally ripening on the vine, and as they travel to stores, according to the release.
Oppy is packing in 22-pound two layers, 25-pound volume fill and 15-pound single layer boxes, RPCs and a 5-pound club pack.
