Tridge Archive - FRUIT PROCESSING magazine

Tridge, the global sourcing and market intelligence hub for food buyers and suppliers, has predicted how the La Nina weather system is likely to impact tropical fruit crops – avocado, mango, and pineapple – in parts of South America, Asia, and Australasia. These predictions can help food buyers globally to mitigate the risks of La Nina on their supply chains.

La Nina is a weather phenomenon that occurs every few years including 2020. During La Nina, changes in Pacific Ocean temperatures impact tropical rainfall patterns from Indonesia to the west coast of South America.

Avocado – New Zealand could suffer where Peru could succeed

La Nina is expected to have both positive and negative effects on Avocado.

New Zealand’s avocado growers have been suffering a prolonged dry spell and eagerly awaiting rainfall for 20 months. However, the heavy rain likely because of la Nina could be detrimental to their avocado yields.

Abhishek Dudejja, Engagement Manager at Tridge New Zealand, said, “It only takes two to three days of rainfall for avocado trees suffering from water stress to recover. Although avocado trees need plenty of water, too much can quickly tip the balance and cause problems such as root rot and asphyxiation. The impacts of this include reduced yields, and smaller and lower quality fruits with a shorter shelf life.”

In contrast, Peru, with a favorable geographical and climatic condition in South America could benefit from La Nina. The colder temperatures this weather system causes could help avocados mature more effectively. Irrigation levels are also currently at the right level for a good harvest.

Cinzia Riccio, Engagement Manager at Tridge Peru, commented, “While la Nina might cause later avocado flowering than normal, the cooler temperatures that are likely should reduce the level of pests, protecting crops. On balance, Peru Avocado appears to be a winner from La Nina.”

Mango – problems expected in Peru and Southeast Asia

For Mangos, the prognosis looks poor in several regions. Prolonged dry spells in Peru, added to an already dry 2020 could impact Mango productivity and prices. In Piura, northern Peru, the country’s top mango growing region, there have been ongoing water shortages and 50 % of its reservoir is depleted.

Jin Woo Lee, Market Analyst at Tridge, said, “This year we’re expecting Peruvian mango to be at least 15 % lower than in 2019, which will increase prices.”

In Southeast Asia, Vietnam and Thailand are experiencing typhoons and facing the prospect of more heavy rain and flooding. This could cause several issues for mango crops, including decreased productivity, internal rotting, canker, and fruit fly, which could mean suspension of exports for phytosanitary reasons.

Pineapple – Costa Rica feels the dual pressures of C-19 and La Nina

Costa Rican pineapples may be scarcer than normal in importing countries such as the US due to reduced demand and supply caused by COVID-19 and la Nina combined. 86 % of US pineapple imports are from Costa Rica, valued at 616 Million USD in 2019.¹

Tridge’s Jin Woo Lee said, “COVID-19 has made reefer containers for pineapple shipping to the US scarce. Added to this, heavy rainfall over the past few weeks is affecting the quality of the fruit.”

Since October 2020, Costa Rica’s principal pineapple farming regions, Alajuela and Heredia, have seen well over two and a half times average rainfall² leading to reduced yield and quality.

One US buyer of Costa Rican pineapples commented, “pineapples are normally sold at retail with a greenish-yellow exterior, which indicates full ripeness. However, over the past month, we’ve been receiving products which are either too ripe or not ripe enough to be sold properly, as pineapples stop ripening after they are picked.”

Despite this drop in supply, export prices to the US have decreased, because COVID-19 has caused reduced demand from US buyers. Equally, the heavy rainfall worsened by la Nina is unnerving Costa Rican suppliers about the quality of their product and therefore its value.

According to Jason Kong, Operations Managers at Tridge, “12kg of Costa Rican MD-2 Pineapples were traded at $6.2 in October 2020 but now they are at $5.0.”

Hoshik Shin, CEO of Tridge, commented: “La Nina will cause a turbulent end to an already difficult year for many fruit growers. It is another reminder of why both food growers and buyers globally need to be prepared for change and disruption and be ready to adapt or switch their supply lines and routes to market quickly using digital trading platforms and expert partners. At Tridge we’re supporting an increasing volume of organisations on both sides of the food supply chain who are seeking this agility.”

¹Tridge: https://www.tridge.com/products/pineapple/import/US
²UN Seasonal Explorer: https://dataviz.vam.wfp.org/seasonal_explorer/rainfall_vegetation/visualizations#

About Tridge
Tridge is a global trade ecosystem where buyers and suppliers of agricultural and food products can find everything they need to understand their markets with just a simple search. Using a combination of the latest digital technology and the latest insights gathered through a human network, they provide a very powerful global-scale platform for buyers and suppliers to connect and do business with each other more confidently.
Using a global network covering over 150 countries worldwide, Tridge has developed a comprehensive data set of 300,000,000+ prices and 1,600,000,000+ trade data points covering 1000+ items in the agriculture and food sector and successfully facilitates the B2B and B2C trading of these items. Tridge aims to achieve digitalization and globalization of the trade industry.

Prime season for US and Turkish cherries, low harvest for Spanish nectarines and Italian apricots

Tridge, a global sourcing platform and market intelligence hub for food buyers and suppliers have reported that the US and Turkish cherry market is expected to have a prime harvest season due to optimal growing conditions, whereas Spanish nectarines and Italian apricots are experiencing difficulties as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. With harvest season commencing for many stone fruits, data collected by Tridge reveals which countries are experiencing highs and lows.

Winner: US fresh cherries

The US fresh cherry market is set to remain steady at 450k tons due to prime weather conditions for production, offsetting a biennial off-year decline in cyclical tart production. Washington, California, and Oregon are the primary sweet cherry producing states, accounting for almost 90 percent of the quantity nationwide. Domestically, the cherry season starts as early as April in California; and can finish as late as August in Montana.

Recent years have brought a number of challenges to cherry growers in California, with weather conditions and temperature fluctuations affecting dormancy. 2018 saw a decrease of 58 % in boxes produced (4 million boxes) compared to that of the previous year (9.5 million boxes) due to a freeze during bloom. And, record rains diminished the harvest to 5.25 million boxes in 2019 which was around half of the year’s original forecast.

From 2017 to 2019, tariffs implemented by China contributed to slow exports and production. However, early this year, China lowered the rates on Californian cherries by 30 % as part of the new tariff exclusions for US agricultural products; and, US suppliers are expected to start increasing shipments.

Winner: Turkey fresh cherries

Turkish cherries have had success with harvests in the past few years and despite minor logistical hiccups from the coronavirus, Turkey is expected to continue the positive streak.

The weather has been optimal for stone fruit production in the past few seasons, and 824K tons of cherries were produced in 2018/2019, up by 24.5K tons from the previous season. Forecasts for the MY 2019/2020 season were even higher, at 865K tons of cherries.

Strategically, Turkey has leaned towards satisfying the demands of the export market. Cherry farmers have been selective in planting high-yield trees, as well as planting sweet cherries over sour ones which are higher in-demand.

Turkey’s top export market for stone fruits, Russia, has increased Turkish stone fruit imports the most over the past year, with growth in value of 44.2 % for cherries. Turkey has managed to appeal to consumers worldwide with its attractive prices, an advantage made possible by low labour costs and high supply. Furthermore, Turkey’s currency has been steadily devalued against other currencies. Turkey’s cherry prices in the global market have decreased by 18.9 % within the past year.

The Turkish stone fruit sector remains largely unaffected by the coronavirus. Unlike other major producing countries such as Spain, Turkey has not suffered from severe labour shortages, as production is mainly done with domestic labour rather than seasonal workers. Exports to Russia will experience some delays due to increased border checks, but the impact is expected to be minimal.

Struggler: Spanish nectarines

The harvest season for Spanish nectarines and peaches has started in the regions of Murcia, Catalonia, and Aragon, and is expected to finish late May. Spain shows a consistent export season from March to October, with the peak period between May and September.

However, the yield for the Spanish nectarine market is projected to be 508 million kg, which is a 20 % decrease in volume compared to last year. Suppliers are expecting a further decrease in harvest volume due to labour shortages from Covid-19. While Spain has not implemented any major restrictions, it is estimated that up to 40 % of the workforce will be impacted as migrant workers from Morocco, Belarus, and Ukraine are not allowed to enter the country.

Spain is the biggest exporter of nectarines and peaches, with its main export markets including Germany, France, Italy, and the UK. With export volume totalling 829.4K tons in 2019, the demand for the fruits has increased by 23 % this year. Yet, increased demand and labour shortages have seen the wholesale price of nectarines surge by up to 43 %, which could soften the blow of the smaller harvest. For example, the white nectarine has increased from EUR 1.50 to EUR 2.13, while the yellow nectarine has increased from EUR 1.50 to EUR 2.15.

Struggler: Italian apricots

Italy is the second-biggest exporter of apricots, reaching an export volume of 56.3K tons in 2019. The expected production for 2020, however, has been hampered by frosts that occurred in late March and early April, with production in Northern Italy affected the most. The Northern Emilia Romagna region has seen the biggest estimated production decrease of almost 90 % compared to last year.

The total Italian production volume for 2020 is expected to be 136K tons, a 56 % decrease from approximately 307K tons in 2019. While suppliers have seen increases in demand from Central and Northern regions, there has been very little demand from the South. Apricot producers are also left with more obstacles to overcome as a decreased number of workers has left the farms with a shortage of labour to harvest the fruits.

Hoshik Shin, founder and CEO at Tridge, said: “While there are many external factors that can determine the success of a harvest season, normally the primary influencer is the weather. US cherries are an excellent example of how hot or cold conditions can determine harvest results – optimum harvest conditions translate to greater production volumes which in turn helps meet the demand for the commodity”.

“Unfortunately, some harvest seasons have been negatively impacted due to Covid-19, meaning that labour shortages are contributing to decreases in harvest levels. This means that low prices cannot be easily maintained”.

Using an online sourcing platform that offers market intelligence can help mitigate the impacts on buyers, as it enables them to find alternative suppliers to meet their needs. Suppliers can also benefit from the data provided by platforms such as Tridge, as it can give historic insight into the harvest conditions of previous years as well as provide predictions for future seasons.