Exporters lament loss of some orchards after hailstorm and say that it is not yet known if it will affect sales
Following the statements by the Minister of Agriculture, Antonio Walker, who confirmed the existence of "quite serious consequences" in various agricultural orchards as a result of yesterday's rain and hail, the exporters of Frutas de Chile (Asoex) gave an initial assessment of the situation.
Thus, the president of the association, Ronald Bown, reported that currently the technical teams of the exporters are evaluating the effects of rainfall, especially hail, occurred yesterday Monday in the south central area of the country that affected especially the regions of O'Higgins, Maule, Ñuble, Bío Bío and Araucanía, with focus from the route 5 south to the pre-cordillera.
The leader pointed out that while there is information from damage to blueberry, cherries, stonefruit, kiwifruit and table grape where some producers, Unfortunately, they lost almost all of their production.
In any case, he stressed that "it is still early to deliver more detailed data that will allow us to know more precisely the dimensions of these, and if they will significantly affect exports."
Thus, the first information indicates that in regards to pits (peaches, plums, apricots and nectarines), the rains and hailstorms could have generated some effect in the late varieties that are in flowering, also influencing the fall of fruits.
Furthermore, in blueberries, orchards located mainly in the foothills of the South Maule suffered the effect of precipitation, but especially hail, which could have caused losses due to fall of fruit, damage to fruits, and loss and damage to leaves, a situation that is currently being evaluated by the Asoex Blueberry Committee.
Cherries
Regarding cherries, the Cherry Committee of Asoex reported that there was an important impact in the orchards located in the areas of Granero, La Punta and Mostazal mainly.
Due to the climatic event, the Committee has decided to delay its forecast - which was to be published this Thursday 15 November - until next week, where the real impact of this phenomenon will be quantified. However, today a decrease of about 5% in the exports of this fruit is estimated.
Table grapes
In the case of table grapes, from the Table Grape Committee of Asoex, they inform that information has been received of damages, especially derived from the fall of hail in some communes of O'Higgings.
"In our sector there is not a large number of producers that have roofs to protect the fruit, as it happens in an important part of the sector of the cranberries and cherries. In any case, the rain does not worry us as much as the hailstorms, since the latter destroyed clusters, threw away flowers and fruit," said Fernando Sat, president of said Committee.
"The fall of hail on the clusters, can affect future morphology and characteristics of theseLikewise, the impact on production will depend on the amount of hailfall per square meter and its size. Although it is important to highlight that there are affected areas, it is also important to specify that they are quite focused, especially within the O'Higgins Region,” he added.
kiwis
In turn, Carlos Cruzat, president of the Kiwi Committee of Chile, pointed out that the most significant damage was caused by hail, mainly in the foothills of the O'Higgins and Maule Sur regions. Also, he said that they are evaluating the damage in those affected orchards.
In addition, the president of Asoex stressed that despite the preparation of the sector, the weather is always an unpredictable variable. "Although the sector is increasingly prepared to face this type of climatic situation, through the implementation of better infrastructure such as protectors and roofs in crops, especially blueberries and cherries, the concrete thing is that these phenomena always cause some kind of damage in the production, as well as a higher cost for producers due to the need to intensify measures to prevent the fruit from losing its condition and quality," he said.
Bown added that they hope to have a full evaluation of the damage next week and more precisely define its effects.
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