A new study has named Chile as the most successful fresh fruit exporting nation in the world, beating off competition from South Africa, the US and New Zealand in the process.
Research conducted by Promar International for the European policy institute CEPS identified Chile as the top nation based on a series of predetermined success factors, broken down into controllable, non-controllable and global production development lifestyle factors.
According to Promar, Chile's fruit industry scored consistently across the categories, with a combined score of 4.3 on a scale of success running from +9 to -9.
Of the other five countries involved in the study, South Africa came second (3.3) followed by the US (2.7), New Zealand (2), Italy (1) and France (-2.7), the latter being the only nation to achieve an overall negative score.
'Successful fruit industries direct their attention to ensure that individual businesses are successful and therefore the overall industry is successful,' Promar said. 'The factors that can come under this area of more direct influence are productivity and yields, efficient supply chains, economies of scale, new product development (NPD) and diversified markets.'
The study found that successful industries generally have a history of innovation and rapid transfer of technology across the industry, as well as a wide geographical spread of customers, two factors that Chile scored highly on.
When factoring in government support for horticulture across the six countries, Promar found that Chile was achieving its success despite receiving a lower level of financial support than the other nations, although it said that support from both the private and public sectors was important, as well as investment in marketing and promotions.
'We are extremely proud of the rapid progress our industry has made over the last 20 years, and of our position as the leading fresh fruit exporter in the Southern Hemisphere,' said Ronald Bown, chairman of the Chilean Fresh fruit Exporters' Association (ASOEX). 'It is always gratifying to have your success recognised and as chairman of the body that coordinates and implements the international market access, marketing and promotional programme for our industry, I am delighted that this study also highlights the role our work has played in establishing Chile as a leading player in all the major consumer markets of the world.'
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