Huertos Collipulli has carried out its first shipments of organic blueberries to China after becoming the first Chilean company to have its organic production certified by the Chinese government. Commercial director Cristóbal Duke said the company had made a number of trial shipments this season, with volumes expected to increase in 2015/16.
“This is another step in our journey towards seeking greater diversification and differentiation for our products, a process that the company started some four years ago,” Duke told Fruitnet.
In 2011, Collipulli embarked on a strategy to realign its exports with more profitable markets such as China, Japan and South Korea. The company is expanding its cherry and blueberry production, located in Chile’s VIII region, and expects output to rise by 30 per cent in 2015, taking its annual sales to more than US$20m. The company produces around 500 tonnes of organic blueberries, cherries and apples a year which are sold in Europe, North America and now China.
Although the organic movement is still in its infancy in China, demand is rising steadily in China, particularly amongst increasingly sophisticated middle class consumers in cities like Beijing and Shanghai.
