Chilean fruit exports in 2008 are expected to reach similar levels to those achieved in 2007, with only a slight increase in export value, according to estimates published by Fedefruta (the Chilean fruit growers organisation).
Shipments this year are forecast to reach 2.35m tonnes, Fedefruta said, a figure which is almost identical to the volume exported during 2007.
Export value, meanwhile, is anticipated to rise by 8 per cent to US$2.8m, but the growth is less than the rise in production costs, which have impacted Chile’s entire fruit export sector.
Fedefruta said the export stagnation is due primarily to projected volume shortfalls in certain fruit categories affected by recent bad weather, including the frosts.
Exports of avocados this year are estimated to fall by 50 per cent in comparison to 2007, with citrus down by 16 per cent and plums a further 16 per cent.
Conversely, cherry sending are forecast to rise by an impressive 142 per cent and blueberries by 53 per cent, gaining on results achieved in both 2006 and 2007.
In terms of destination markets, Chile has shipped greater volumes of fruit to Europe this year instead of the US, a strategy which Fedefruta chairman Rodrigo Echevarría has urged exporters to pursue further.
