With 15 years of uninterrupted work in the development of the blueberry industry in Chile, Armstrong is the blueberry man at Frutas de Chile (Asoex until last year). He has been a witness and protagonist of the growth, contractions, challenges and new opportunities that this industry has had in recent years. At Blueberries Consulting we talked about the challenges and opportunities that blueberries have today for national producers, where the varietal replacement and the consolidation of a seal of belonging to the Blueberry Committee that distinguishes them from their partners in global markets, is what is setting the tone.

The year 2008 was crucial for the Chilean blueberry industry. Its growth was marked by the leadership of the main exporters of the time. “Basically, we supplied the US market, where this fruit was consumed, in the off-season, and, anticipating the large production that was coming for the next few years, we realized the need to work together to develop the market, establish quality standards, and ultimately, protect and care for our industry for the future. I think that the Chilean blueberry industry was proactive in seeking its path and the best markets for national producers,” says Armstrong.
This is how the Chilean Blueberry Committee was born in 2009 with work aimed at specific goals such as the development of consumption, quality and safety of the fruit, with a view to the variety of producers and productive areas that exist in the country, going from less than 40.000 tons in 2009 to reaching 117.000 tons in the 2020-2021 season.

Over the years, the Chilean Blueberry Committee has participated in international bodies such as the Blueberry Council of the United States and the International Blueberry Organization (IBO), which reflects the position that the Committee has achieved thanks to its uninterrupted work in favor of the development of the industry.

What has happened in recent years then?

“We have been reducing our volume in line with the new competitive scenario. The Chilean industry has been readjusting and we have had to start thinking a little differently about how we do things, reinforcing our pillars of quality and representation with regard to sustainability. This is how we concentrated 90% of exports. Last season, the committee concentrated 66%.”

What are the reasons for this decline?

“It has to do with this process of adaptation to the new competitive scenario. When the Committee started, the industry had a long period in which the market needed blueberries, because they were only produced in the USA. Europe produced for domestic consumption.

Mainly, as in Australia or New Zealand. At that time, the only contrasting offer for the USA and then increasingly Europe, came basically from Chile. Over time, Argentina joined in and many Chilean businessmen went looking for an earlier production to try to occupy this space where blueberries were lacking.
So, as these new productions began to appear, with varieties with low or no chilling hours required, this space between the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere began to be occupied more, led by our country. However, both Chile and the US were trying to occupy a larger space. What has been happening is that this development of production in other countries, such as Peru, which is concentrated between the peak of the Northern Hemisphere and the peak of the Southern Hemisphere, which is Chile's, is the space that it has mainly occupied. Towards the end of the Chilean season, it is a space that has been occupied by Mexico, mainly in the US, and Morocco in Europe.

What has happened to these countries?

“Mexico is very close to the US market and Morocco to the European market, so Chilean production has faced great competition from those countries in those markets. The same applies to Chile’s earlier production in Peru. Both Mexico and Peru are countries that, due to the climate and the varieties they produce, can do so practically all year round. Our estimate for this season is 81.000 tons of fresh blueberries for export and 57.000 tons for frozen blueberries. Part of the Chilean production that was exported fresh has been migrating to frozen exports, as it has been a viable alternative for many producers who today can no longer compete in the fresh market.” To a lesser extent, but which has been growing, is the domestic market itself, which even receives imported blueberries from other countries to cover demand during the year.

In this adaptation of the markets, several actors have been left out. How has Chile adapted to this new scenario?

“It is a process. Our offer today has a component of renewed, well-managed varieties, but there are also older varieties with fruit that we might not want to export fresh. Therefore, this adaptation process has gone through two stages. The first is to remove from our offer that fruit that is no longer competitive, to incorporate new varieties and thus improve our export varietal mix. All the other countries I mentioned before started much later than Chile, so they did so with newer genetic material, which represents an advantage.

There is a battery of varieties that have been arriving in Chile in force for some years now. These are varieties suitable for our country's climate. Last season we exported 14% of what we call new varieties and, for this one, we hope to reach 20%. This will grow as the production of renewed varieties increases and the old varieties decrease. And that is the opportunity for Chile to create a more homogeneous offer that gives more security and confidence to consumers.”

Under that perspective, what is the focus today?

“For some years now, our focus has been strongly on quality, logistics processes, post-harvest technologies, orchard management and varietal renewal. That is where we are focusing our efforts.

As a Committee, we are part of the generic campaign for Chilean Fruits. For us, it makes sense, since we are in this process of readapting to the competitive scene. We are putting our house in order, which will allow us to grow again and occupy a space in which Chilean fruit stands out for characteristics such as flavor and sweetness. To do this, we need to be at a higher point of varietal renewal, consistency in arrivals, caliber, firmness of the fruit, which allows this differentiation of flavor to be expressed and valued.

What role do investment funds and new players entering the industry play in this new approach to varietal renewal?

We must not lose sight of the fact that global blueberry consumption continues to grow and there is potential for growth. We have seen, so to speak, production declines last season and this season from Peru, in the October and November period, but if one compares this with the volumes of three seasons ago, it is much higher. However, the price has been much higher. This is a reflection of the increases in consumption and the opportunities for our industry despite this readjustment, and international operators also understand this.

The productive efficiency required to export blueberries 10 or 15 years ago was different from what we need today, because prices have been adjusted. A producer who 15 years ago had a reasonable price-cost balance, does not have it today if he is not as efficient or does not have the variety that gives him the productivity that is needed. This has caused some producers to abandon the blueberry sector and look for other species to produce. Others continue to seek efficiency and renew their varieties.

Likewise, foreign funds and companies have come to invest in blueberries in Chile, because they understand that there is an opportunity, that they do have potential for the future, and that is a very good sign.
On the other hand, we see some nurseries that are betting that Chile has an opportunity and have made significant investments to generate that local genetic supply.

What is happening with the domestic market?

The domestic market has also been growing and, at times, pays quite interesting prices.

Tell me a little about the label you launched this second semester.

First of all, I would like to say that this is voluntary. This is an effort that is being made by a group of companies with resources and the will to improve. These are the ones that have put their hands in their pockets and have put their resources so that we can carry out promotional campaigns in China and Europe. We started in Scandinavia, went to France, England, Germany, Russia, the USA and Canada. That is why the members of the blueberry committee, since it began, have opened their doors to us so that we can verify their fruit at origin. These are companies that are committed to the development of the industry from the point of view of quality and varietal renewal. In this sense, we have done very consistent work over the years and it has required a lot of effort from the members of the committee.

On the other hand, we are evaluating varieties from all genetic programs in different areas of Chile, to generate information that allows producers to make a more accurate decision about which variety to plant in their orchard.

This is how this seal was created, allowing these companies to identify themselves as part of the Committee of Blueberries in Fruits of Chile and for importers and retailers to associate them with a more consistent quality offer and a mix of renewed varieties.

If you had to evaluate these 15 years of the Committee, what would you choose?

One would always like things to happen faster, but I understand that there are processes. If you compare the current blueberry industry with the industry when the committee started, today we are in a much less comfortable position than 15 years ago, but the market conditions are not imposed by one and we have to adapt. Within the Committee there are companies that have their plantations, their harvesting processes, with a view to continuing in this market, and there are also people like our technical manager, Julia Pinto, who is the one who leads all the projects at the field level and who works directly with the Committee members. I value that and I am very optimistic that we are on the right path. The opportunity lies in having a varietal renewal that allows us to compete in the markets, with the capacity to harvest and transport the fruit efficiently, so that it reaches its destinations and competes well. Probably in the next few years we will see increases in advertising, marketing and promotional investment, which will also allow us to accelerate these consumption growth processes. That is our challenge.