Complican tambien heladas en Polonia a la UE

Seguimos corroborando desde LATINBERRIES que las heladas en el 2007 han causado severas dificultades en las producciones de frutas de todos los continentes.

Esta nota describe la situación en Polonia, país proveedor de fruta fresca a la UE. Polonia es el mayor proveedor de frutillas y un gran proveedor de berries muchas de ellas utilizadas para congelado o IQF que compiten de alguna manera y por un corto tiempo con los berries del Hemisferio Sur. Aquí la nota

ADVERSE weather and labour shortages will combine to make 2007 one of the most difficult years in living memory for Europe’s fruit processing industry, trade associations warned this week.

The outlook for this year is particularly dire because all major fruits are affected. Poland, the largest supplier of processed strawberries in the EU, is expecting this year’s strawberry output to be 30-40% down on 2006 and 65% down on 2005. With limited stocks, particularly of good quality produce, Polish frozen strawberry prices have risen by 40-75% from last year (see right) .Europe’s raspberry output has also been hit. Polish output is estimated to be 20% below last year’s, while frost damage in Hungary and tight supplies from Serbia have contributed to squeezing the volume of raspberries available to processors.

Poland is the most common factor in this year’s litany of European fruit shortages. Estimates suggest the country’s production of plums could reach just two-thirds of 2006’s crop, sour cherry output could be slashed by 20-50% (Hungary’s harvest has also been badly hit), while apples could plunge 50% from last year, pushing up prices by 40-75%.

Blueberries are likely to be much in demand, given that the new season will open with empty inventories and most suppliers of semiprocessed apricots report price increases of around 40%, states the OEITFL.

Firm prices are also reported for frozen raspberries . Sources say that badly maintained raspberry fields and spring frosts have taken their toll on Poland’s raspberry crop this year. As in blackcurrants, processors of concentrate and frozen produce are squabbling over supplies.

“Currently the market belongs to people making raspberry concentrate and they create really firm prices - they reached PLN5.0/kg delivered factories, ” said a Polish source. “Most coldstores have not bought at this level because prices are too high - they haven’t accepted prices we’ve offered yet which are €1.65-1.70/kg ex Poland for crumble and whole and broken, based on current raw material prices. There are some single deals being made but not major purchases.”

Fuente FOODNEWS

Info al instante de los mercados de berries en EEUU

Info al instante de precios en EEUU. Primera semana de Agosto

Info Raspberries/Blackberries:
Moderate demand with better supplies is causing a slightly weaker market.
Look for this trend to continue over the next week or so. Quality is good. California blackberry supplies are also improving with better quality coming around. Market is steady.
Blueberries:
Wet weather has been hurting production in most blueberry growing areas over the last week (Washington, BC, Michigan and Oregon) New Jersey is not much of factor anymore due to their season is almost over. Market is very active. Most shippers are prorating orders. Quality is fair to good.

Heladas también en Australia

El año 2007 se ha convertido en un año que será recordado por las heladas en casi todas las áreas productoras de berries del mundo. Como venimos informando en LATINBERRIES además de las heladas sufridas por productores norteamericanos durante el mes de abril, también en Australia y Nueva Zelanda las heladas este año producirán importantes bajas en la producción. Aquí la nota

Winter has stamped its authority on the North Coast of NSW and the region's farmers are counting the cost of some of the coldest overnight temperatures they can remember.

"I woke up to a very cold environment. I went outside and down into the gully near our house and it was minus six-and-a-half." Ridley Bell farms blueberries at Lindendale, near Lismore and is estimating he's lost as much as 30 per cent of his early fruiting varieties in just one night. "We've had minus five before. We've never had minus six-and-a-half in my time here. Minus three we start to get significant damage to our fruit."

On Ridley Bell's farm there was a huge temperature range. At his property's highest point it was zero degrees. But in the gullies the gauge dropped to that new record for the Bell family. Mr Bell says any fruit on the tree's couldn't survive.

"It's like taking blueberries out of a freezer at home. They become like blueberry jam, soft and pulpy. Younger fruit on the bush that has freeze damage get corky. So it will dis-colour and just be corky on the inside."
Another 25 kilometres to the east, a reading of minus nine degrees was recorded by the manager of an orchard near Bangalow. Rick Dalli from Heavenly Valley Farms, says he was greeted by a white and frost bitten landscape when he arrived at work. "Everything was all frozen, frozen trees, the net was frozen over the top."

Rick Dalli is predicting losses as high as 40 per cent and says "all the flowers and all the fruit that were out now are pretty much all gone in those low lying paddocks." The industry uses sprinkler systems overnight to try and keep the orchard temperature at a level that won't affect the fruit. Mr Dalli says his neighbour used the technique, but he says it simply didn't work in the extreme conditions.

"He had stalactites hanging off the trees where water had landed. In theory we're putting on water that's five, six degrees from the local creek, so it should be warmer than the actual air temperature is. But it was just too cold."

Mr Dalli says it's now a waiting game to see how the trees recover. "There's a lot of black fruit there already." But he says there's some hope that later flowering varieties might survive.
"The buds are still tight and small and hopefully there may not be as much damage. But it's still cold now, how much longer is it going to stay cold like this.

Blueberry producer Ridley Bell is relying on breeding trials and new varieties to manage the impact of frost. He says the industry can use large fans to circulate air in frost prone areas. But he says there's little support from near-by residential neighbours to noisy fans operating throughout the night.

The region's sugar industry is also assessing the damage of Thursday morning's frost. Rick Beattie, from the NSW Sugar Milling Co-operative was heartened by the crop's resilience after an earlier frost on Monday morning. But he says inspectors are out in the paddock going through the assessment process again.

Heladas en Michigan producen perdidas de hasta 30% en algunos cultivos

Esta nota resumida muestra que también en la fruta tardía de Michigan e Indiana que podría ser de guarda, se han producido pérdidas por las inusuales heladas que sufrieron el pasado abril. Los menos damnificados fueron los productores mas cercanos a los lagos. Aquí parte de la nota

Location is key to protecting blueberry crops from the area's wildly intemperate spring weather. Most of northern Indiana's blueberry farms are located in a northeasterly swath from DeMotte through LaPorte County to Fort Wayne, said LaPorte County Extension Educator for agriculture and natural resources Gene Matzat.

Most of northern Indiana's blueberry farms are located in a northeasterly swath from DeMotte through LaPorte County to Fort Wayne, said LaPorte County Extension Educator for agriculture and natural resources Gene Matzat. Some berry farms, within 10 to 15 miles of Lake Michigan, were protected from April's freeze.

Max Whitcomb of Kouts picks Blueberries at Blue Sky Blueberry Farm in Wanatah on Thursday. (Michael McArdle/Post-Tribune)
Some berry farms, within 10 to 15 miles of Lake Michigan, were protected from April's freeze. "The lake has a buffering effect," Matzat said.
But others, like Eenigenburg's Blueberries in DeMotte, located in the Kankakee Valley, sustained a damaging freeze because temperatures dipped lower in the valley.

"I lost 30 percent and I was very fortunate," said owner Barb Eenigenburg, who opened for the season last week. It's only the second time in 40 years that her farm endured a freeze.

Some other local growers weren't as lucky. Van Kley Blueberries cancelled its pick-your-own this year and is selling over-the-counter only, a representative said. Zylastra's was closed Thursday. A phone message at the farm said there was a limited crop this year because of severe frost and that the farm would be open for business today. Pat Goin, co-owner of Goin's Blueberry Lane in North Judson, said she lost 60 percent of her crop. She usually hires 40 people, but will only hire 10 to 15 this summer. Goin was hesitant to reveal just how much, in dollars, her farm lost. "I don't want to say," she said. "It's a lot."

Blue Sky Berry Farm in Wanatah, which is nearer to Lake Michigan's buffer zone, saw little damage, said co-owner Jennifer VanMeter.

Consecuencias de las heladas a la fecha

Según la Estación Experimental Obispo Colombres en Tucumán ya hay daños en frutillas y arándanos debido a las heladas en el NOA. En arándanos muchas variedades que se encontraban avanzadas en floración éstas últimas semanas, en fincas sin control antiheladas pueden sufrir mermas significativas en la producción de hasta 15% según EEOC.

Otros productores tucumanos como nuestro amigo Daniel Orzuza publica en su blog que las perdidas son aún discutibles en Tucumán. (ver nota)

En Concordia y Salto (Uruguay) aún la floración no está tan avanzada y en los cinco primeros días de Agosto hubo solo un día de helada (ver gráfico) insignificante hasta la fecha. Hasta ahora Agosto se muestra bastante mas benigno que Julio informaron productores a LATINBERRIES. Tres días fueron nublados o con lloviznas que impidieron la formación de heladas.

Buenos Aires se encuentra en general con pocas yemas abiertas hasta la fecha y tuvo dos heladas agronómicas en lo que va de Agosto.

Agradeceremos sus comentarios e información de sus campos para compartir en el blog.

Fuente LATINBERRIES