Chilean agriculture minister Carlos Furche met with the heads of Alibaba Group this week to develop joint initiatives to promote Chilean products in China.
The meeting took place during the second day of the tour by a trade delegation headed up by the minister and including representatives from Asoex, Chilenut, and national agriculture and livestock service SAG.
Highlighting the increasingly important role of e-commerce platforms – which now count 360m users in China – to reach consumers, Furche described the opportunity for Chile to make further inroads into the Chinese market as “limitless”.
Speaking after the meeting with Alibaba’s vice president Brian Wong, Furche said Chile’s evolving relationship with Alibaba “will enable Chinese consumers to explore the attributes of Chilean food products, increasing their consumption.”
Chile signed a cooperation agreement with TMall (part of the Alibaba Group) in August last year, part of which included a deal to promote online sales of Chilean fruits, especially blueberries and cherries.
Asia – and in particular China – is the main destination for Chilean cherries, accounting for 85,013 tonnes of a total export volume of 103,081 tonnes during the 2014/15 season.
Overall, Chilean fruit exports to China have experienced average annual growth of 73 per cent between 2005 and 2014, reaching a record US$744m last year.
