The barriers that hinder exports of Chilean fruit
The arrival in China of the first direct shipment of Chilean cherries to the city of Wuhan, about 800 kilometers from Shanghai, after its port was the first of the Chinese cities to be approved for fruit imports, reports the advances that are taking place in that country to improve access to other places beyond the traditional ones.
Although they are still low volumes, that opening is added to that of the Zhengzhou airport, also in the interior - as far as 270 tons of cherries and nine of national blueberries have arrived this season, according to data from the consulting firm iQonsulting -, which opens new possibilities to diversify destinations in the Asian giant, especially for cherries, of which close to the 80% of what Chile exports goes to that country.
On the other hand, the negotiations for the approval of phytosanitary protocols of fruit access to different countries - where the authorization for the entry of walnuts to India, announced in December of last year - also indicate options that in the future may mean an export jump for some national productions.
Despite these positive news and the agreements that have been achieved in recent years, the fruit export sector continues to face obstacles that hinder access to certain markets, even when it comes to countries with which there are free trade agreements (FTAs), and that it is urgent to unlock to continue growing in the medium and long term.
Although the guilds, producers and exporters value the efforts made from Chile, especially at the level of the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG), the Directorate General of International Economic Relations (Direcon) and ProChile, and emphasize the experience that has the Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Furche, in these matters, insist that it is possible to put your foot on the accelerator to unlock aspects that today complicate them.
To hurry the negotiations to obtain the entrance of the cherries to Korea, of the nectarines and nuts to China, and to unblock sanitary requirements of access to India for products like the blueberries and avocados, are some of the most urgent measures for the exporters.
They also insist on the need to converge towards a standardization of the requirements of levels of agrochemical residues - which in many cases not only varies at the level of countries, but also of supermarket chains - and in pushing for greater transparency of the markets
Cherries to Korea
It is expected that in this season the exports of Chilean cherries will mark a record of 100 thousand tons, of which the 83% goes to Asia and the 96% of that percentage to China, equivalent to more than 79 thousand tons.
The importance of Asia has grown strongly for that fruit since 2007, when the protocol of access to China was signed, so the next step sought by producers and exporters is to enter Korea, a market that buys large volumes of cherries at United States and that offers attractive opportunities for Chile.
At the union level, the agreement is expected to enter into force for the next season, but the head of the sub-department of phytosanitary certification of SAG's Agricultural and Forestry Protection Division, Roberto Mir, does not venture with dates. It recognizes that the negotiations are slow and that that country, like China, does so with one product at a time. " One dreams that for the next season there could be possibilities, but I can not give a chance of success. For the subsequent I think it should already be open"He says.
He explains that the negotiation has progressed slower because the SAG must offer mitigation measures to prevent the spread of some pests that Koreans want to avoid, such as the Cylia bothers, the high-performance Cylia pomonelland the Lobesia botrana. "That is where we take a little longer to find alternatives that are operationally convenient for Chile, that exporters can meet and that are likely to be accepted by Korea. We are still in that stage"Explains Mir.
For its part, the producer and exporter Antonio Walker says that the only thing they expect in the sector is that Korea is open next season. "I call on the Association of Exporters and the Ministry of Agriculture to expedite opening as much as possible, because it is urgent", He emphasizes.
Avocados and nectarines looking at China
With the success of cherries as an example, avocado exporters also aspire to conquer China. Although the protocol is approved, the requirement of fumigation with methyl bromide for products from the Valparaíso and Metropolitan regions - to prevent a fruit fly infection - is something that in practice is a barrier to sending them, since most of the country's production is concentrated in those regions and fumigation affects quality.
While in the SAG, without giving dates, they are confident that they will obtain positive results and that the quarantine will be eliminated for those regions, and thus to be with one that is limited to specific areas, the producers hope to solve it for this season, because of the attractiveness what's wrong with it: "We see great possibilities in China. We plan a very big growth and with notoriously very good prices", Says the president of the Avocado Committee, Gonzalo Bulnes.
The priority that was given to avocado negotiation generates criticism among nectarine exporters, who already make shipments to that market - through Hong Kong, but claim that the protocol with China is just being processed.
"In this season we could have managed to get the Chinese authorities to make the inspection visit mandatory, but it was not done, so probably next season we will not be able to send nectarines to China ... It is true that the pace of negotiation they put it, but I think that if they want to hurry them, it can be done to make this go a little faster", Says the former president of Fedefruta and producer of nectarines Cristián Allendes.
The slowness criticized by exporters is seen from the SAG as part of the process. Roberto Mir assures that the fact that the Chinese authorities have not come is because "it could have been an inefficient visit", Since they are not yet informed of the state of progress of their regulatory process. However, he recognizes that " sometimes we fall a few steps, as the visitors come, they could have come".
Approve requirements
The increasing demands of international consumers for healthier and more innocuous food has translated, for exporters, into requirements of increasingly high standards of quality and condition for fruits. Especially in developed countries, these standards are not uniform at the country level, but vary according to supermarket chains and constitute a constraint for national exporters.
While he appreciates that the market seeks more quality and is concerned about issues such as levels of agrochemical residues, Cristián Allendes argues that the existence of so many different standards translates into a headache for exporters, because you have to guide production thinking in a specific niche.
"If there is a single requirement, we understand it, because it ensures a clean production, but there is too much variety of approvals and that makes it difficult to meet the requirements to enter all markets and achieve good commercialization. The producer has to constantly check the tolerance of each market"He explains.
In that sense, one option would be to advocate so that conglomerate countries such as the European Union, for example, can standardize the demands, although the producers themselves recognize that it is something difficult to achieve.
Negotiate with India
Although one of the interests of nut exporters for the medium term is to reduce the access tariff for markets such as North Africa and Turkey, which in the latter case is 43,5%, the priority is to advance negotiations with India . Although that country already approved the entry of Chilean nuts in December, it requests to fumigate them with methyl bromide, something that does not require any other market for this product, since normally it is made with phosphine.
"This limits us a lot. It is the only destination in the world that demands it and, from the start, we would have to separate products only to be sent to India and generate an infrastructure that does not exist today for the nines, something that is complex", Explains the president of Chilean Walnut Commission, Andrés Rodríguez, regarding a situation that also affects avocados and blueberries, for which it is sought to replace fumigation by phytosanitary inspection, something that is being negotiated and is one of the priorities of the SAG and Asoex.
Something that does not cause problems for nuts, but for fresh fruit, is the Indian road and logistics infrastructure, which in some areas is deficient and which in the industry they see as a top stone. "Everything that can move in that direction is super important, because it can be a tremendous market", Comment sources of the sector.
The president of Asoex, Roland Bown, emphasizes that when exporting, the conditions of maintenance in the importing companies and in the complete distribution channel are essential for the stability and projection of the shipments in time. "This was a serious limitation when the economic opening of Central Europe was achieved. The economic and phytosanitary opening is of no use, without having the corresponding logistic support"He says.
Regarding India, exporters say they are slower than other markets for phytosanitary negotiations and, unlike China or Korea, difficult to predict. "It is difficult to plan, everything has times that you do not know when something is going to be ready, because there is no structure, a step by step of the procedures to follow or the time it will take", Detail connoisseurs of that market.
More transparent markets
The investigation carried out by the Chinese authorities to some of the main importers of fruit in that country, which has included the arrest of executives, has shown signs of a shift towards greater transparency of markets in the Asian giant.
Despite the speculation generated by the news at the end of January, the national exporters appreciate that it is taking a turn in that line, since they recognize that until now - with some fruits that do not have authorization to access China - it is common that some importers enter it through Hong Kong, a practice that would tend to disappear.
"Chile is a very serious country and the only thing we expect from the Chinese authorities and all intermediaries is that this market is as transparent as possible", Commented national producers.
However, the producers and unions agree that these are specific situations and that a goal that Chile should set is to reduce para-tariff barriers for different products.
Another point where the national authorities are working is to re-authorize the use of the port of Jakarta, in Indonesia, for the arrival of Chilean fruits, since the country changed the access point for Chile and other exporters , something that raises the shipping costs. "There are countries that are allowed to enter fruit products through Jakarta, which is why it is trying by different instances to get access to Chilean products in this way", Explains Robeto Mir.
In that sense, it recognizes that there are markets where surprises can be found, but it highlights the work of the Chilean representatives abroad to build trust and advance.
Unforeseen events also generate obstacles
As some exporters insist that there are still infrastructure deficiencies to improve in countries like India, they also call to take into account the imponderable factors that they often have to face, such as natural catastrophes or labor mobilizations.
Although in Chile the port strikes of the two previous seasons were a headache for the fruit sector, this year it is the United States that has contributed the quota of tension, with the paralysis of 29 ports of the West Coast, due to problems of negotiations collective that have been crawling since May of last year, which has generated delays of up to seven days in the unloading of ships.
The paralyzed terminals not only receive the 30% of the fruits that Chile destines to that country, its main target market, but also close to the 70% of the imports that the United States receives from Asia.
With the idea of speeding up the resolution of the conflict, Asoex has been requesting the action of the Chilean diplomatic authorities so that the situation can be normalized as soon as possible. To avoid this type of future situation, the former president of Fedefruta, Cristián Allendes, states that it is necessary to demand that - as has happened in the port strikes in Chile - prevails that perishable products can enter with priority to the United States. " These situations are also obstacles that at some point put exports of fresh produce at risk", He emphasizes.
Source: Field Magazine
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