– Tail-end of the 2015 crop with material still available
– There has been some flood damage in the Northern regions of Chile which accounts for 30% of the crop, and better quality fruit in that region.
– We are expecting a higher price due to the floods
– Chilean Peso is strong so this could be a factor for high prices
– Demand in South America and Europe is not particularly strong
– Supply situation kicking off, demand situation is slippery
– Now is a good time to look at what you are going to require ahead. Suppliers are looking for orders.

Give us a call to buy some material and chat with Adam.

The post Chilean Flame Raisin Market Report 11.01.16 appeared first on Freeworld Trading.

We have a packed episode of Freeworld News for you today. The latest updates on the website include a market report from Adam, in which he discusses the new hazelnut crop for 2015 arriving in factories in Turkey.

Michael also delivers the first market report on walnuts – he mentions the high starting American prices in the last 3 years. We have had prices come out recently which are about $1/lb cheaper than the opening last year in California, because of a big crop on the way with estimates of about 608,000 tonnes in shell, compared to the subjective last year which was 550,000 tonnes.

We also have a written goji berry market report from out trader Yu Cai, where she recommends you to cover your demand from now until the end of December

We also give you the latest on the currency and markets, and a brief update on the Californian raisin crop. The California raisin-type grape forecast for 2015 is 2.00 million tons, up 13 percent from last yearâ€s final production, according to the results of an objective measurement (O.M.) survey conducted in July by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

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Market report with our trader, Adam Johnston.

The prune market has begun to show signs of traction over the last 3-4 weeks. Offers from Chile have shown prices are stabilising. The first USA crop estimates, at the beginning of June, had little effect on the market. There was not the upswing in price that many Chilean shippers predicted. As prices stabilise at the bottom of the market now is a good time to book volume through to new crop. Some sellers have reported selling out of 50/60 sizing.

Chilean shippers are reporting that raw flame material is rapidly selling out. Flame prices for shipment in the last quarter of 2015 have been moving up over the last month. We highly recommend customers move to book their remaining 2015 requirements for both jumbo and medium flame raisins before stock is sold out.

There remains good availability on Chilean Thompson raisins and shippers are open to bids to secure sales.

The post Raisins and Prunes Update appeared first on Freeworld Trading.

Demand is quiet

Demand remains low and markets quiet because prices are high. With the almonds, we are anticipating the objective report which is out this Wednesday, a statistically valid way of looking at what this year’s crop is going to look like for California’s almomnds. Demand seems to be reasonably ok, and not injured with regard to brazil nuts and flame raisins for example. Things are basically quiet, people are on holiday, demand is low.

Greece Nightmare

Thing however remain loud and chaotic with Greece and their ever so close exit from the Euro. Greek banks, cash machines remain closed this week as Greece faces a banking crisis. The country has less than 48 hours to pay back 1.6 billion euros of International Monetary Fund loans, and a default is looking increasingly likely. The euro fell to an eight-year low against the pound after Greece confirmed it had shut its banks.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said on its website: ‘Visitors to Greece should be aware of the possibility that banking services – including credit card processing and servicing of ATMs – throughout Greece could potentially become limited at short notice.’

The post Freeworld Trading News Round-up – Episode 20 appeared first on Freeworld Trading.

Exportadora Anjari is a raisin exporter located in San Esteban, one of the main productive fruit areas in Chile and was established in 2004.

Marco is the sales director of Anjari, a prominent flame crimson Thompson raisin exporter. We ask him questions such as what the total export of flames are and if they grow their own raisin, what the advantages of their raisins are compared to other factories.

Whilst Marco has visited, we have done our best to come up with a confectionary grade because flames are mainly sold to USA and Europe for coating for chocolate, which requires a special grade. The characteristics of this grade will includes less cap stems, lower moisture levels and a tighter grading which means the fruit will be tightly grades and will be able to absorb the right amount of chocolate. The whole production process should be more standardised.

The post Meeting with Anjari appeared first on Freeworld Trading.

Vinefruits – Market Report

Sanjoy and Alex discuss vinefruits. There has been hail damage in Manisa the sultana growing area near Izmir, in Turkey. Could this signal an upward movement in the entire vine fruit as happened two years ago? maybe its time to snap up some of the bargains , currants for instance, which have their own impending difficulties.

Since we made this market report the results of the Turkish election have become clear. The AKP will now have to try and form a minority government and this political uncertainty is reflected in a drop of 8% in the Turkish lira against the US dollar, and calamity in the Turkish stock exchange. Till a stable government is formed , anything could happen.

The post The Currant state of Vinefruits appeared first on Freeworld Trading.

Adam Johnston recently went to Chile to look at what’s happening with prunes and flame raisins.

Prunes – the price of prunes is still weakening, and Chilean exporters are looking for traction in the market to keep the price going. Next step they’re looking at is the USA Crop with the first figures being announced start of June. Exporters from Chile suspect this crop not to be as big as some people are expecting it to be, so we may see prices start to firm. In this video we also look at the relationship Russia has on the Chilean export market.

Flame raisins – prices have been coming down this season, and have reached a point where producers don’t want to go any lower. We also speculate around the decisions made by exporters with relation to demand and supply.

In this video, Adam and Sanjoy talk about what lies ahead with regard to these two products.

Stay tuned for our next episode of Freeworld News Round-up, which can be viewed on our weekly updated news section. It will be published on Tuesday morning because of the May Bank Holiday.

The post Chile Report – Prunes and Flame Raisins appeared first on Freeworld Trading.

We look at the effects of the recent tragic flash floods in the Northern part of Chile. We are possibly looking at 90% damage to 30% of the crop of Chilean vine fruits. Now the estimate is 30% of 30%. It looks however that it is going to be good weather form now on wards. Officials thought the floods would spread down south, but luckily for the crop and the peoples, it dissipated. Business resumes, and market is back to normal for Chilean raisins.

The flash floods have left 25 dead and 101 missing

Delicate time weather-wise for Turkey too because young flowers are out for basically all Turkish crops – apricots, hazel nuts and sultanas. For the sultanas, there seems to be no effect from the frost and offers still coming in.

Apricots is a different story, however, with reports saying there is 15-20% damage to the crop this year due to frost. The biggest apricot growing area in the country, Malatya, continues to cause concern with frost damage occurring due to warm temperatures during the day followed by cold periods at night. A recent spell of frost damaged some of the new crop apricots..

Meanwhile, sultanas remain relatively unscratched by the frost. Still pretty early the vines do have the capacity to recover and grow new shoots.

The post A Brief Weather Update – Chilean flash floods and frost in Turkey appeared first on Freeworld Trading.

Ailsa Perez-Ulecia explains –

The Chilean raisin crop has developed well and we hear of no issues during the year which could have affected the crop size or quality. The expected crop is looking to be in the region of 70,000MT – 75,000MT. In Chile the raisin crop is predicated on the fresh grape industry (table grapes) which is a very hot active market.

So the driers compete heavily for 2nd grade raw material thus pushing the prices up. As a result of these high raisin export prices, we have seen demand reduction over the past 2 to 3 years; those who could replace with alternative origins such as Turkish or South African have done so.

With a good crop coming plus a certain level of carryover and the desire to stimulate demand – we expect to see competitive new crop prices coming out in February

The post Chilean Raisins Market report – December, 2014 appeared first on Freeworld Trading.

This years crop is now expected to total 317 – 350 000 tons, up until last week packers had received approximately 321 000 tons, representing  the original crop estimate made in October last year.

Production figures are definitely higher than last year’s, figures for total shipments (export/domestic) from January to May are up 13% compared to the same period last year, with export figures alone being up 26%, with a 50% increase in the month of April from 2013 to 2014.

We can expect prices to firm going ahead for the rest of the crop as stocks at origin tighten at origin. The USDA (Department of Agriculture) has increased their orders, now totalling around 15 420 tons for their use in non-profit operations such as school catering and charitable domestic food aid. Some believe that this figure could increase again to over 17 700 tons, squeezing supplies further.

New Crop

The rainy season is now almost complete in California, which has only seen around 30% of normal precipitation levels. Because of a lack of water, growers expect only around 50% of the land to produce a crop this year, hoping that there will be a carry over from the current crop. At present there is no estimation for fruit size in the upcoming crop.

At the current shipment rates to Europe many exporters are unable to maintain their normal margins, for this reason too, it is reasonable to expect prices rising in the very near future.

The post US Raisins Update – May 2014 appeared first on Freeworld Trading.