A large group of cherry growers attended the recent meeting of fruit producers organized by Fedefruta and ProChile; they are worried about the next season, which will be marked by a Chinese New Year that will be celebrated 10 days earlier than in 2022. How do they see the future of cherries? We spoke with the former Minister of Agriculture, Antonio Walker, who is also a cherry producer.
How do you see the upcoming cherry season considering that the Chinese New Year will be celebrated 10 days earlier than in 2022?
«We cherry producers have a great challenge: that the 77 million boxes of cherries that we produce and export are of the best quality, in the best possible condition, because the market wants the best fruit; we have to aspire to have very uniform boxes, like a box of chocolates; the challenge for producers and exporters is to solve the logistical problems because that was what hurt us a lot last year, we had 60 days of travel and many times to unload a ship we took 15-20 days, where the fruit deteriorated a lot; today the market wants good fruit, that is the challenge for producers and we have to solve the logistical problems, we also have very high maritime transport rates, the business cannot withstand it so we have to see how we can unite to be able to reduce the cost chain..
Do you consider it important to diversify Chilean cherry export markets?
«We have to open markets in any case, we cannot depend on just one market; we have to go to Europe, the United States, Southeast Asia, we have to go to India and for that we have to invest. This is a very good product, I don't know anyone who doesn't like cherries, but cherries have to be sugary, with a firm, crunchy fruit and a very good flavor, so the time has come to conquer Latin America as well, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, where Chile has a long export tradition. We have to diversify the markets because we cannot depend on just one», concluded Antonio Walker, former Minister of Agriculture and cherry producer.
