Today, in the guild of farmers and exporters specialized in cherry orchards, an annual cultural event, millennia old in oriental culture, has taken on great importance: the Chinese New Year; a strategic date with which all those who supply, cultivate, export and taste this wonderful fruit work.
But do we really know what this date, for which we work so hard, means?
We will start by reminding you that, in 2024, the Chinese New Year will begin on February 10, a little later than in 2022 and 2023; and we say it will begin because unlike the Western New Year, which we celebrate on December 31 and lasts only one day, for the Chinese it is a holiday that lasts 16 days, beginning on New Year's Eve on February 9 and ending with the Lantern Festival on February 24, 2024.
This traditional festival is also celebrated in countries such as Singapore, South Korea, North Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Also known as the “Spring Festival,” it is the most important celebration of traditional Chinese festivals. As its name suggests, the Chinese New Year follows the cycle of the moon, so this February 10, 2024, marks the beginning of the year 4,722, which will be the year of the Dragon and the wood element; the year of the Wood Dragon according to the Chinese lunar calendar.
According to the Chinese zodiac, the Year of the Dragon comes once every 12 years. The most recent Year of the Dragon was in 2012 and the next one will be in 2024. People born in any of these years are said to have been born under the sign of the Dragon.
During the 16 days of celebration, there are visits to relatives, special meals, concerts, parades and fireworks. Everyone celebrates the new year, especially during the first three days.
Five days before the festival, the house is cleaned and New Year's shopping is done. Red posters with poetic verses are also hung on the doors and the walls are decorated with pictures and red lanterns.
On New Year's Eve, those who live away from home make a great effort to get home and attend the "Reunion Dinner", which is the most important meal of the year. It is comparable to Christmas dinner in the West. A large meal is shared, which cannot be missing the traditional "dumplings" (shoumian), which represent longevity. This dinner lasts until midnight, when the countdown to the new year begins. The traditional distribution of red envelopes with money for children also takes place. At the end, fireworks and firecrackers are launched, in the hope of warding off bad luck and attracting prosperity.
During the week following the Chinese New Year, people spend time visiting family and friends and bringing gifts, among which are boxes of Chilean cherries, which are attractive because of their reddish color, which is very important for this holiday, and because for a Chinese consumer, cherries symbolize perfection, eternity, fortune, health and prosperity. Cherries are considered a luxury item that is given as a gift on special occasions and have managed to conquer the upper middle and upper classes of that country. Likewise, by giving a fruit as healthy as cherries, one is symbolically giving the gift of health.
In many homes, auspicious Chinese characters and couplets on red paper are found pasted on the doors. Red is an auspicious color as it wards off the Nian Monster. Wearing new clothes is also a common tradition to ward off bad luck and the new year, an event of novelty.
Like all traditional festivals in China, Chinese New Year is riddled with stories and myths. One of the most popular is about the mythical beast Nian, who would eat livestock, crops, and even people on the eve of a new year. To prevent Nian from attacking people and causing destruction, people would put food on their doorsteps for Nian.
It is said that a wise old man noticed that Nian was afraid of loud noises (firecrackers) and the colour red. So, people put red lanterns and scrolls on their windows and doors to prevent Nian from entering; they also used Crackling Bamboo, which was later replaced by firecrackers that were lit to scare Nian away.
According to Chinese New Year history, early celebrations were a time to offer sacrifices to gods and ancestors, and as the seasons changed, people wanted a blessing for the harvest. Today, many Chinese New Year traditions are based on that story.
If we look at the sky, we will know when the Chinese New Year is with the arrival of the first full moon, and although the true history of the origin of the Chinese New Year is lost in the past, the celebrations are as festive as ever; and they are as joyful and colorful not only in China, but are celebrated in similar ways in other countries that also celebrate the lunar year, or Chinese New Year, such as Singapore, South Korea, North Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Vietnam; we should then turn our attention to these new destinations, as an opportunity to diversify the market and expand it to new horizons.
Cherry exports were projected for the 2023-2024 season to be 100 million boxes, but due to the climatic events that caused winter floods, lack of cold hours, lack of degree days during the flowering and setting season that made the work of bees difficult, and late spring rains that caused cracking, among others, spirits dropped and the expectation was close to 65 million boxes; the varieties hardest hit by adverse conditions such as the above were the Royal Down, one of the varieties that are harvested first and for that reason was affected by the spring rains, followed by the Bing that had a low load added to varietal replacement and the Santina that due to the volumes and participation could be the most powerful drop; however, reality fortunately exceeded this calculation; This was helped by logistics that worked better and prevented damage to the cherries, as well as by a surprising rise that was not expected in the production of cherry orchards in the southern part of the country, especially from Maule to the south; today it is expected that exports could be close to 82 million boxes, that is, close to 410 million kilos, a little less than the previous season where just over 83 million boxes were exported; to date, 81 million boxes have already been exported, waiting to see what happens in the next few days, when the total export of the season is consolidated.
Of the total amount of cherries produced by Chile, the Asian giant buys almost 881 TP3T of the total exports of this sought-after species. There are many commercial opportunities, but we must work hard to arrive earlier, faster, with better logistics and focus on marketing, in order to diversify the market not only for the Chinese New Year celebrations, but also to other countries such as the United States, since it is the second largest consumer of cherries, with 41 TP3T; the idea is to supply this country in the autumn-winter of the northern hemisphere, and to position cherries as an important gift to replace chocolates or flowers, which is a market segment that Vadpagro knows very well, and which mainly come from Ecuador and Colombia, to be given as a gift on a very important date for Americans such as Valentine's Day. Hopefully in the future, we will not only look at China and the Chinese New Year as the only important date for cherry exports, but we will also put February 14th on our radar with Valentine's Day, or try to reach more strongly markets like South Korea, which currently buys 21% of our cherry production and is one of the countries that also celebrate the Chinese New Year.
