Chilean fresh fruit exports rose by 13 per cent in volume terms during the first five months of 2011, according to the latest fruit bulletin from Chile’s Office of Agriculture Studies and Policy (Odepa).
The fruit categories with the main increases in volume were cherries (up by 58.4 per cent), plums (36.4 per cent) and blueberries (31.6 per cent).
Further growth was recorded in shipments of pears (which rose by 19.6 per cent), apples (16.8 per cent), nectarines (13.3 per cent), kiwifruit (9.5 per cent), table grapes (9.5 per cent) and peaches (3.8 per cent), Odepa said.
Conversely, those categories which registered export declines included: avocados (down by 41.9 per cent), lemons (-43.2 per cent) and mandarins (-11.6 per cent).
The increases in exports of cherries and blueberries followed adequate weather conditions during the Chilean spring which allowed production to almost reach its full potential, Odepa revealed in its report.
And this trend should continue in the next few seasons due to the expansion of planted area in recent years.
The increase in exports of plums, nectarines, pears, peaches and table grapes, meanwhile, is thanks to a recovery in output following low volume in 2010, Odepa explained.
In the apple category, the organisation attributed the growth in exports to an earlier season start, which is set to result in a light increase in volume against record exports in 2010.
Kiwifruit sendings, meanwhile, are facing adequate marketing conditions reflected in the rise in exports to date this year.
The decline in exports of avocados, however, is the result of alternate bearing following a record year in 2010, coupled with good prices on the internal market which has seen demand almost equal that of the export market.
For citrus, Odepa explained the fall in lemons is not significant since peak production has not begun and shipments of the fruit so far this year only represent 2 per cent of annual exports.
The contraction in mandarins, meanwhile, is the result of a later start to the season in comparison to last year.
In the nut category, Odepa said exports rose by 69.9 per cent during the January to May period of 2011, with in-shell hazelnuts registering growth of 124 per cent, followed by in-shell walnuts (97.3 per cent) and walnuts without shells (24.8 per cent).
Odepa claimed the natural upturn in Chile’s nut volume comes on the back of new plantations entering production, as well as good demand and prices on external markets.
