Everything indicates that this cherry season could reach a new milestone, which “will force us to deepen current markets and develop new ones,” Claudia Soler, Executive Director of the ASOEX Cherry Committee, told Pulso in an interview. India is emerging as a new destination for the growing production.
“This 2023-2024 season we believe we will experience growth similar to that of the
last season, which would bring us to a figure close to 100 million boxes," advance
Claudia Soler, director of the Cherry Committee of the Association of Exporters (ASOEX).
Reaching 100 million boxes will also mean entering other markets with all that new
fruit, within China itself and other countries, explains the executive. The Asian giant of almost 1,400
million inhabitants has medium-sized cities with less than 10 million people that
Chileans hope to conquer, as do consumers in Korea, Thailand and especially the
India, which is emerging as a promising new destination, with its huge population already exceeding
China's, and the increasing rise in purchasing power.
“It is a market that has great potential to absorb part of the growth in volumes
expected in the future. Although shipments are still incipient, cherry imports have grown
average over the last 5 years a 46%”, Soler maintains and adds that this season he will be
special focus on that market.
However, China is and will remain the main export market, being responsible
of 88% of Chilean cherry exports. In this market and as a result of the growth that
We expect in the future of export volumes, the main challenge is not only to increase the base
of Chilean cherry consumers, but also to increase the frequency and volume
purchasing of our current consumers. We must work on Tier 1 cities, where we already have
They know and penetrate Tier 2 and 3 cities, where there is less awareness of the category.
Source: Pulse La Tercera.
