Juan José Vidal, Commercial Director of ProChile in Shanghai and Catalina Cuevas, Head of Sustainability of ProChile were the rapporteurs of the seminar that the institution organized together with the Sustainable Fruticulture Regional Strategic Program, Perfrut, on the opening of the Chinese market for national citrus .

The activity brought together more than 50 producers and exporters, mainly from the Valparaíso Region, and served on the one hand to characterize the Chinese market, publicize consumer preferences and identify the main competitors and on the other, detail the advantages competitive that delivers a sustainable approach to production.

In his presentation, Juan José Vidal said that “doing business in China is a marathon, it takes time. In this sense, establishing trust with the importer or the distributor is essential ”. Regarding trends, especially after the spread of COVID-19, Vidal commented that “there is a clear inclination to consume high quality products. China changed, the consumer is going to be much more demanding. The issue of food security is key, it is something that you have to work on, put together a whole story and add value to our offer from it ”.

Vicente Alti, Regional Director of ProChile in Valparaíso, complemented the idea saying that “the opening of the Chinese market is a tremendous opportunity, since it allows diversifying destinations and reducing dependence on other buyers such as the United States. However, we must have attributes to face the competition and sustainability emerges as a differentiator and an aggregator of value for our offer ”.

From the Sustainable Fruit Growing Regional Strategic Program, whose objective is to encourage a greater participation of the region's fruit growers in the export market and strengthen the Valparaíso Region as a sustainable agricultural production area, its manager Kurt Neuling said that “sustainability is a good business that gives added value to Chilean fruit, to consolidate itself as a healthy product, which complies with social and environmental regulations that are valued by new consumers, which is very relevant to position Chile in this new post-pandemic world scenario ”.

ProChile's Head of Sustainability, Catalina Cuevas, added that “sustainable trade ceased to be a trend and was installed as an opportunity to differentiate ourselves and do more with less. It is essential that companies adopt responsible, transparent production processes that enhance their competitiveness and make them more resilient. ”

At the end of May, the citrus export season to China began with the shipment of 23 tons of clementines and 74 tons of lemons. Valparaíso is the second region in the country that exports these products the most after Coquimbo. Total citrus shipments in 2019 exceeded US $ 318 million, with the main destinations being the United States, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea and Canada. In terms of products, fresh grapefruits, fresh clementines, fresh oranges and fresh lemons lead the shipment ranking.