LOS ANGELES, CA - Stonefruit and cherries are taking the spotlight this morning, as Pacific Trellis Fruit recently shared an update on its upcoming import season. The company is sourcing cherries from Chile and Argentina, in addition to peaches, plums, and nectarines from Chile, and a dynamic plum program from South Africa.

“With increased volumes of cherries arriving in the United States from Chile and Argentina, we are looking forward to increased opportunities to work with our customers in promoting cherries well into March,” Marcial Hernandez, Director of Imported Fruit, elaborated. “The first fruit to arrive via vessels should be available the third week of December, just in time for New Year’s ads.”

According to a press release, Pacific Trellis will be providing random-weight bags and fixed-weight 1 lb or 2 lb clamshells under the Dulcinea® brand.

Fruit can be flown into Miami along with vessel arrivals at East and West Coast ports, and much of the fruit is brought to the United States in bulk shipments of 5 kilo boxes and repacked using a wet line to provide additional quality control.

“Pacific Trellis Fruit is recommending ads to run weeks 2–8 to take full advantage of promotional supplies as well as promote late Argentine fruit. There will also be a small Rainier cherry program with fruit arriving toward the end of December,” said Dan Carapella, Jr., Director of Special Projects, Senior Sales Executive, and Category Manager for Cherries. “We are seeing that many customers have already penciled in big ads in both mid-January as well as for Valentine’s Day in February.”

As the release also noted, fully staffed quality control teams manage both the inbound/outbound product from the shipping point to the customer.

The supplier’s Tim Davis, Stone Fruit Category Manager, also shared some insight on the upcoming stonefruit season.

“We have air shipments into Miami along with vessel arrivals to the East Coast, where our dedicated quality control team manages our extensive repack capabilities. Our operations team monitors all inbound/outbound shipments, allowing Pacific Trellis Fruit the ability to manage supply and optimize quality,” added Davis. “We have a terrific program of yellow and white flesh nectarines, late-season plum varieties including Applums, Lemon Plums, and D’Agen Sugar Plums, and availability of a number of high-flavor/high-brix plum varieties like Ruby Sun, Black Pearl, and Green Red (aka Flavor Gator) out of South Africa, which will arrive in mid-January and end in April.”

ANUK is sure to bring more crop updates like this one, so stay tuned.

Pacific Trellis Fruit