Chilean walnut shipments to South Korea grew by 26 per cent in 2014 to 3,368 tonnes. This is only the third year that Chile has been exporting to the Asian country, which now ranks as its fifth biggest market for walnuts.
“We are already beginning to see the results of the extensive marketing campaign the industry has developed in collaboration with ProChile under our sectorial brand, Walnuts from Chile,” said Andrés Rodríguez, president of the Chilean Walnut Commission.
In March the commission undertook a promotional tour in South Korea during which it held meetings with distributors in Seoul, Busan, Ulsan, Daegu, Daejeon, before concluding with a seminar in Seoul attended by some of South Korea’s leading nut importers.
The campaign then moved on to China, where access was granted for shelled walnuts from Chile in 2014. “In China today we are focused on developing a niche market for processed products such as shelled nuts, while also working with the government to achieve full access for walnuts in their shell,” Rodríguez said.
