The challenges faced by the fruit sector with an export vision in Chile

22/08/2015

An important factor in the success of the Chilean fruit sector is the country's climate diversity, as a consequence of its geography and location in the Southern Hemisphere. It produces and exports more than 75 species, including table grapes, apples, kiwi, blueberries and avocados.

It is interesting to note that despite the small area devoted to fruit production in the country-close to the 310 thousand hectares, compared to the area of other countries such as Argentina, which reaches the 600 thousand hectares, this has not prevented achieve a leading position in the international context in several fruit species, product of the integrated effort of all the actors that participate in this industry.

An example is the cranberry, classified as "super fruit" and whose demand is growing worldwide. This berry is delighting consumers around the world and, in markets such as China, is tempted by the attractive selling price that can be obtained in relation to the US. and Europe.

"The particularity of the blueberry is that it is a fruit that has fared very well abroad due to an unsatisfied demand, since as its volume grew, its price increased, something that normally does not happen. In addition, it is an attractive fruit in its way of eating, it reaches markets well, it is a gourmet and healthy product because of the antioxidants", Explains Manuel José Alcaíno, president of Decofrut.

It should be noted that, apart from the above, there is a key factor that will stimulate the export of blueberry this 2015: the price of the dollar, which is currently in CLP 697. This is the main advantage that this berry has in the international context, especially because the 70% of the fruit goes to the USA.

Something different happens with the apple, a species that has been challenged by climatic factors (frost, sunburn) and the stock in Europe. So far in the 2015 season there is a fall of around 22% in the volumes exported compared to last year.

While it is expected that in the last months of the year there will be a recovery, everything seems to indicate that the numbers will not reach in any case those obtained during 2014, when Chilean shipments of apples exceeded 808 thousand tons.

The situation described above is the result of a sum of other factors. First the climate, which in the Northern Hemisphere played against the Chilean producers given the exceptionally large harvests.

"There is also a structural issue, technology, which has to do with the fruit is stored in controlled atmospheres, in refrigerators in very good condition. And on the other hand, we have to the national apples the weather played a trick on them. The high temperatures of the summer impacted on the quality, reason why a lot of fruit presented problems of color and low firmness, having a direct impact on its storage capacity and impacting on its export condition", Points out Alcaíno.

Another factor that complicated the outlook for Chilean apples was the situation in Russia, a country that last year made a veto on imports of fruit and vegetables from the European Union and other countries. To date, this has caused countries that traditionally exported apples to that destination, have had to stay with them, marketing them locally and / or diverting them to other markets. This situation has caused that many of the markets to which Chile traditionally arrived with their apples have been saturated with fruit.

Therefore, the recommendations point in the first place to the search for new markets that may be interested in buying Chilean apples, such as Africa, Southeast Asia or certain regions in the interior of China, which until now have not been explored. On the other hand, there is the incorporation of more and more technology that allows the production of apples of higher quality and that arrive in good conditions at the destination, so that they are more competitive in the international context.

Under this scenario, PMA Fruittrade 2015 -to hold the 11 and 12 in November in Santiago- will offer the sector the opportunity to promote its products and generate face-to-face instances with the leaders of the world fruit industry in order to build cooperation networks and export, fundamental axis in the search for new markets, and the event has the particularity of, in one place, bring together producers and retailers who can make commercial agreements.

PMA Fruittrade 2015 will also show the latest trends in technology, key services and the global view of the consumer, the initial kick of all decisions made at the production level.

Source: Fruit Portal