Varietal renewal drives upswing in Chilean grape exports

The Chilean Table Grape Committee is forecasting an export crop of 66m cartons for 2024/25, up 2.4 per cent on the previous season. The figures are based on estimates for around 85 per cent of the country’s total shipment volume.

The committee’s executive director, Ignacio Caballero, said: “For the second consecutive season, we expect table grape shipments abroad to continue growing. This growth also repositions us as an industry with great quality and variety of grapes”.

New varieties continue to gain ground and are expected to make up 65 per cent of exports in 2024/25, equivalent to 42.9m cartons. “Having a greater supply of new varieties makes us increasingly attractive in destination markets as they have the attributes that consumers are looking for: more flavour, firmness and crunchy texture,” Caballero said.

The US will continue to be the main destination for table grapes, taking almost 60 per cent of shipments, followed by Asia (16 per cent), Europe (14 per cent) and other markets (10 per cent).

This will be the first season in which Chilean table grapes can be exported to the US market under the Systems Approach protocol, allowing the fruit to be sent without the need for fumigation from the Tarapacá, Coquimbo and Valparaíso regions. Frutas de Chile will run a special promotional campaign in the US, aimed at further boosting consumption.

“We are very optimistic about this new season, because this advance with the Systems Approach protocol opens up great opportunities for us in the most important market for Chilean table grapes. This will allow us to move towards a better quality of the fruit sent and support our local producers,” Caballero noted.

The committee noted that progress is also being made on a pilot plan to switch to the Systems Approach for exports to Mexico.