Dole Chile, the country’s leading fresh fruit exporter, earlier this year announced its decision to invest US$20m in renovating three of its packing plants in Coquimbo, Rancagua and Lontué, in addition to expanding its packhouse in San Bernardo. This will see the addition of cold storage and controlled atmosphere chambers to the company’s pre-existing facilities.
While its new amenities will not extend Dole’s packing capacity, the company is confident the move will be important in modernising facilities and improving efficiency and productivity.
“We want to improve the productivity of our fruit plants to incorporate state-of-the-art technology,” Francisco Chacón, commercial manager of Dole Chile, tells Asiafruit. “This will enable Dole to increase its efficiency and reduce costs.”
Despite the global economic downturn, 2013 has thus far been a strong year for the company, with early estimates pointing to an 8 per cent growth in revenue to US$300m. These positive returns have encouraged investments in areas outside of its packing facilities.
“We are currently developing new varieties of our main export products, which are grapes, apples and kiwifruit,” says Chacón. “We are also expanding our cherry growing business.”
The company also exports pears, plums, nectarines and peaches.
Alongside its growing and packing facilities, Dole Chile has a local fruit distribution and salad plant, which is focused on the food service and retail sectors. “Regarding our salad and packaged businesses, Dole Chile is expanding its operations to the rest of South America,” says Chacón. “We will have new facilities, customers and local partners in Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Venezuela.”
This move is the latest in efforts for the company to further its business in Latin America. Dole Vegetables already distributes fruits and vegetables in Peru and Argentina and for the past few months has also been marketing a successful line of fruit cups, which consist of prepared fresh fruit in cups, to the Brazilian market.
In March 2014 the company plans to open a salad plant and a distribution centre for Dole's product lines in Colombia. This will be carried out in cooperation with a local partner at an investment of US$15m.
Dole Chile has also recently diversified its retail strategies with the introduction of online product sales through its website.
