Chilean cherry exports to China have increased by 30 per cent this season according to the latest figures from the Chilean Cherry Committee.
With shipments beginning to wind down, Edmundo Araya told Fruitnet that the quality of this year’s crop had fuelled demand in the run up to the Chinese New Year celebrations. “The strength of the market has meant prices for larger sized fruit are up by an average of 10 per cent on 2013 levels,” he said.
However, he added that exporters were facing higher transportation costs as a result of having to ship more fruit by air because of the Chilean port strike. He estimated that airfreighted volume was up by 19 per cent on the previous season.
The sales boost comes as welcome news to the industry, which was forced to cut export forecasts for the 2013/14 season from 17m cartons to 11m cartons following last September’s freeze. It comes on the back of a major promotional push into the Asian country which included a road show taking in several major cities, and a deal China’s biggest online business-to-consumer shopping website, TMall.com to market cherries and blueberries in the lead up to Chinese New Year.
