Climate affects quality of Apple and boarding plummets

Hail, drought and excess rainfall. In a span of a few months, the combination of these three climatic factors undermined the quality of apples harvested in southern Brazil, contributing to a ' domino effect ' that causes sharp drop of Brazilian exports of the product, skyrocketing imports and higher trade deficit of fruits.
Traditionally the main agenda item of fresh fruit exports from Brazil in the first half-year to date, the melon is the leader, the Apple production hubs of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina suffered at the end of last year with a rain of hail, says Luiz Baker, a researcher at Embrapa temperate climate, the State-owned company unit based in Pelotas (RS). "The HailStorm caused mechanical damage on fruit and, with it, the quality fell," says Baker.
In addition to the showers of hail, the vintage 2013/14 of Apple, harvested between the months of January and may, was also affected by the severe drought that hit the Center-South of the country in January. Already in harvest, the rains also disrupted, says the President of the Brazilian Association of Apple Producers, Pierre Pérès.
According to analyst Leticia Jain, of the Center for advanced studies in applied economics (Cepea), the intense heat has damaged the appearance of the fruit, which was more yellowish. "To turn red, Apple needs thermal amplitude, with a little more cold at night," she says. In the case of Apple gala, the variety most consumed in the country, the heat has affected the juiciness of the fruit.
In this context, Apple exports were unable to escape the trouble. "To export, the fruit has to be that ' top of the top, '" adds the Cepea analyst. In the first half, Brazilian exports retreated 47.13% Apple, to 44.2 million tons, according to data from the Bureau of foreign trade (Secex) compiled by Brazilian fruit Institute (Ibraf). By revenue, these sales had dropped from 48.3% in comparison to $ 31.8 million.
According to Pierre Pérès, exports in the sector also faced a scenario of high supply of fruit in the European Union, Brazil's main customer in the segment. "There was a supersafra in Europe. And not just from Apple, "he says, citing the increased production of stone fruits such as plum and peach.
Somehow, Apple stocks in Europe reflect this scenario. On the 1st of June of this year, Apple stocks totalled 733 thousand tons in the European block increment of 88% compared to the same period last year, according to the world Apple and Pear Association (Wapa, the acronym in English).
The strong retraction of Apple shipments abroad "contaminated" the export data of the Brazilian fruit growing as a whole recognizes the market research manager of Ibraf, Cloves Ribeiro. In the first half, the Brazil exported 265.5 million tons of fresh fruit, reduction of 10.3% in comparison with the 296 thousand tons sold in the same interval last year.
"We had a high negative, but this number does not represent the reality, because fall is basically Apple", says Ribeiro. In fact, the volume of exports that Brazil lost in the first half, compared to the previous year, was 30.5 million tons. Apple volume already gave a negative contribution of almost 40 thousand tons. In summary, other fruits until they have diluted the impact of Apple fresh fruit exports in the country.
Among the gainers of Brazilian exports of fruits are lemon, whose sales grew 30% in volume in the first half, reaching 56.7 million pounds, as the Ibraf. "Even with the withdrawal of Brazil of the General system of Preferences, sales of lemon are growing," said the Manager of Ibraf, citing the decision of the European bloc, which raised the tariff for imports of Brazilian products.
According to Ribeiro, the international trade in tahiti lime has only two major producers, Brazil and Mexico. For the second half, he predicts better performance in exports. The period is seasonally stronger sales of melon and mango.
The lesser quality of apples also affected Brazilian imports, boosting fruit purchases of Argentina and Chile, which have risen from 60% and 80% in the first half, respectively. "The Brazilian fruit is not good looking. So, Chile and Argentina saw an opportunity, "says Sandhya Jain, an analyst at Cepea.
In the first half, the Brazil imported 221.6 million tons of fruits, 6.8 percent more than in the same range of 2013. Spending with purchases grew 8% to $ 266 million. Apple imports already grew up 68.4% in volume and 47.8% in revenue, to 44.5 thousand tons and $ 43.6 million. This high contributed to raise the fruit trade balance deficit, of $ 11.2 million in the first half of 2013 to $ 39.7 million in the first six months of this year.