Having landed its first shipment of Chilean blueberries of the new season in China, Giddings Fruit has underlined its plans to increase market share in the Asian nation.

The initial shipment arrived in Shanghai yesterday (Aug 31). The fruit was grown in the Giddings orchards in the northern part of Chile and shipped by air to China.

"We are very excited about this fruit because the weather has been wonderful, which has allowed the fruit to develop to its fullest," said Gonzalo Matamala, Giddings Fruit General Manager for Asia and China. “The fruit is sweet, crunchy and has excellent flowering, particularly for this Australian-bred variety.

"The Chinese market has been an important destination for our company, so shortly after receiving the formal authorization that allows exports [from Chile], we sent this fruit to our customers in Shanghai."

Matamala said Giddings would complement its air cargo programs with ocean shipments to China as the Chilean season progresses. It will also ship fruit from Peru, which means that the company's label will be present in the market for a longer period of time.

"In terms of volumes, to China and Asia our plans are to move around 850.000 kg (850 tons) of blueberries from our operations in Chile and Peru," Matamala explained. "Our volumes are growing steadily over time, but our main goal is to provide quality fruit to our customers."

Beyond China, Giddings has started supplying customers in Korea, Japan, Singapore and Thailand with new season blueberries from Peru and Chile.

"All of those markets currently have North America as a supplier, but those volumes are shrinking by the day as the US season is expected to end early this season," Giddings explained. "This situation has allowed us to penetrate markets with excellent prices and strong demand."