Chile will carry out its first-ever citrus promotion in the UK this year as it looks to diversify its export markets and raise the profile of this growing category.
The pilot programme will focus on easy peelers and is aimed at the children’s segment of the market. It will see the Chilean Citrus Committee team up with the Children’s Food Trust charity and lifestyle bloggers BritMums for a series of activities to promote consumption and usage ideas.
The campaign, which begins this month, will also feature radio spots with leading nutritionist Dr Emma Derbyshire giving advice about healthy eating.
“Easy peelers are a great snack product and are ideal for school sports days and other occasions,” Asoex’s Christian Carvajal told Fruitnet. “Last year Chile shipped just 277 tonnes of citrus to the UK and we think there’s potential to develop this and other markets over the coming years.”
At present exports are almost exclusively concentrated on the US market, which took 42,500 tonnes of Chile’s 43,000-tonne export volume in 2016.
Production is heavily focused on clementines, with the Clemenule variety accounting for almost 30,000 tonnes of the crop.
The Andean nation is also planning to carry out a lemon promotion in Japan, Carvajal added.
