The Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela, the President of Asoex, Iván Marambio, the President of the SNA and former Minister, Antonio Walker, the Chinese Ambassador to Chile, Niu Qingbao, and the President of Fedefruta, Jorge Valenzuela, all visited the Ponderosa Agricultural Company, located on Route H-450 in Requínoa, to celebrate the cherry blossom.
«(This event) is very significant, our cherry industry is the world leader and we are able to provide a high quality product that is sweet and flavorful for the country that buys the most from us, which is China, but also for all of Asia, and of course for different markets that fortunately, with the work of the national industry and also ProChile, have been diversifying the destination countries; but this association in the northern hemisphere of the New Year, Chinese New Year, love, family, associated with a good quality product well delivered in these trays of Chilean cherries, is simply extraordinary."said Agriculture Minister Esteban Valenzuela.
The event was also attended by producers, exporters, workers, port workers and the Director of the Asoex Cherry Committee, Claudia Soler.
«For us, this event, which perhaps started in a smaller format, has become increasingly important, and this is mainly because it is the start of this season and the Chinese Ambassador who lives here in Chile is invited. This is our main export market and where we see tremendous opportunities for growth, so it is a very important activity for us, explained Claudia Soler, Executive Director of the Asoex Cherry Committee.
The Chinese ambassador to Chile, Niu Qingbao, highlighted the quality of Chilean cherries, as well as the importance of this fruit for his country. He also emphasized the good relations between Chile and China.
“This is my third year attending the cherry blossom event and I am deeply impressed by the hospitality of the cherry industry in Chile and I believe that the future of export between both countries will be even better, because we have seen a robust recovery in the country (China) and its economy, so we will have more consumers and we hope to double the size of consumers by 2035. With concentrated efforts by both countries we will have a great treaty. I am also very impressed by the effort that Chilean producers have made to understand the culture and habits of China, it is reflected in the packages and their aesthetics, which makes consumers very happy, this strengthens our friendship.” the Ambassador indicated.
Looking ahead to the new season
The 2022-23 cherry season set the bar high; Chile exported a total of 415,398 tons of cherries, equivalent to 83.1 million 5 kg boxes, with estimated FOB revenues of US$1,400 million. Preliminary estimates for the current season indicate that the figure could reach 95 to 100 million boxes, with a growth of 17-18 percent, however Asoex indicated that only at the beginning of October will they be able to have greater clarity on what is projected for the new campaign.
«We hope that this year we will get close to 3 digits in millions of trays, there have been difficulties with the rains, but the industry is resilient, there is a lot of technology, there is mitigation capacity as we know it; there may be frost, hail, the 7 plagues may come, but the industry is strong, modern and, in addition, it generates in regions such as O'Higgins and Maule a whole value chain that generates permanent jobs. There are irrigation systems, we have had rains this year, but there is also all this high-level technology applied, the same in pollination, that generates an alliance with the beekeeping sector that is significant (…) We are the main "We are the world's largest cherry exporters and we are proud that Maule and O'Higgins are the territories that lead this industry," said Minister Valenzuela.
Regarding the next campaign, Asoex pointed out that there are 10 strategic axes for fruit exports, all applicable to cherries; however, in this crop the fundamental points are: logistics, promotion and the phytosanitary aspect.
«In terms of cherries, the key points are, of course, logistics, promotion in the Chinese market, which is our main market; we must remember that 90 percent of cherry exports are in China, so promotion in China is essential; and I believe that the third axis is phytosanitary, which is essential, especially in a year like this, which is rainy. In terms of logistics, we hope to have two extra ports, which are Lirquén and Ventanas, and in the case of China, we think that we will be able to open a port in the Beijing area, so port diversification is very important.", explained Ivan Marambio.
As for promotion in China, a medium-term promotional campaign is being carried out, lasting three years, which seeks to motivate the consumption of cherries: «We want demand to be ahead of supply, we want to create demand so that all our cherries can be eaten, that is what we are also working on and to do that, and as a third point, what we are doing is focusing on what we call regionalization, we are going to 24 cities in China, where 4 of them have great potential and that is where we are putting our focus».
This year, the campaign includes participation in four important international fairs: Hong Kong, Madrid, Los Angeles and Berlin, which will be the basis for promoting Chilean fruit. Regarding phytosanitary matters, Asoex indicated that work is being done to strengthen the SAG and the third shift, allowing the entire industry to work 24 hours a day, including state agencies.
Producers: “Here we are calm and nervous, fruit growing is like that”
Alejandro García Huidobro, a cherry producer and exporter, sees the season with optimism; despite the unstable weather conditions that have occurred, the complexities of the other seasons have been resolved.
«In agriculture, luck is never cast; we are now in the flowering season, we need to have a very good flowering and then have a good period of temperatures and growth to be able to get a good final product; I would say that we face this season with a lot of optimism since we have gone through three very hard years due to Covid in China, due to the logistics crisis, due to the high rates that we have paid to the shipping companies and many other issues, I think that as an industry we have had 4 quite hard years, last year was a much better year and we had too many challenges that did not even depend on us, but I think that today clearly the challenge of the season is the weather, we have seen a lot of rain, but it is something that we are used to facing, which is inclement weather, but everything else, logistics, the fact that the Covid restrictions have ended both in China and Chile, that China as a market is absolutely with the ports working well, the ships to transport the fruit are working well, make us look at the season with optimism; I don't want to be overly optimistic, we are calm and nervous here, fruit growing is like that, something can happen at any minute, but if I see the panorama "Compared to all the last few years, this is the season in which we are facing the greatest peace of mind," concluded the producer and exporter of cherries.
I think that what needs to be done, in general for cherry growers and all fruit, is to worry about quality, quality is fundamental. We have to reach the markets with good fruit and that is what the consumer wants today, or what the consumer deserves and what the consumer pays and that has to be the focus of Chilean fruit production.
