Hortgro has released its latest stone fruit estimates, a downward adjustment for plums, nectarines and peaches while apricots performed better than was expected a few months ago. Their new estimates reflect lower volumes (smaller fruit) and lower packouts as a result of wind, sleet and hail marks in many cultivars. In general most cultivars’ harvest is about a week later than other years but the brix levels of plums are higher this year.

Plums
Exports on early plum cultivars are 9% down, expected to drop to 13% on the mid and late cultivars, bringing the estimate for the entire season to -12% (estimated at -4% at the start of the season). Wind and hail have played a role in lower packouts, as has sunburn and a decrease in cosmetic appearance of some red and black plums, like Fortune (22% down YTD by week 3, which brings it back to the volumes of two years ago) and Lady Red (32% down YTD week 3). Ruby Sun has bucked the trend with an increase of 45% compared to last year, primarily because of new orchards coming into production, Hortgro says. - Read more of this Fresh Plaza article....

Asoex reports steep increase in cherry and nectarine shipments to China this season.
The surge in Chilean cherry production has fuelled a sharp rise in fruit exports to Asia this season according to the latest figures from Asoex.

Cherry shipments to 16 February were up 93 per cent on last season at 166,692 tonnes, while total fruit exports to Asia rose 38 per cent to 241,511 tonnes.

The volume of nectarines shipped to Asia has also risen sharply following the opening of the Chinese market last year, climbing 37.9 per cent to 14,529 tonnes.  Read more of this  FRUITNET Article.

The “temporary suspension” was enacted last Tuesday after the pest fumigation plant, one of the largest in the state, was linked to the discovery of fruit fly larvae in a nectarine at a grocery store at Devonport, in Tasmania’s north. - Read more of this Weekly Times article.

Tasmania's Primary Industries Minster vows his Biosecurity officers are "absolutely going to destroy these buggers" and dismisses concerns over his department's response to the state's fruit fly scare.-  Read more of this ABC News article.

CHINA’S burgeoning middle class will soon be snacking on Goulburn Valley fruit after SPC struck a lucrative deal with a major state-owned distributor.

Coca-Cola Amatil’s SPC and Goulburn Valley products will soon be sold at 4500 Chinese supermarkets and on e-commerce platforms as part of the new partnership agreement with China State Farm Agribusiness Shanghai.Well-known Chinese celebrity Yiqian Ye has already been enlisted as a brand ambassador to promote the products to aspirational Chinese consumers willing to pay a premium for Australian products. Read more of thise Weekly Time article.

Trade can now commence under improved protocols for the export of Australian cherries, stonefruits, table grapes and citrus.

Exporting of some stonefruits, citrus, cherries and table grapes from Australia to China will now become easier and faster under a series of new protocols ratified today (12 January).

The finalisation of the protocols comes after proposed changes to the Manual of Importing Country Requirements (MICoR) were announced in November 2017. The ammendments included approval for different modes of transit for fresh fruit including air and seafreight, which had previously been excluded for certain varieties. Read more of this Asiafruit article.