Chilean fruit growers’ federation Fedefruta calculates that fruit exports will have climbed by four per cent in 2007 in volume, and by seven per cent in value terms year on year.

Rodrigo Echeverría, president of the federation, announced this week that the biggest gains look likely to have been made in blueberries, which are expected to close the year 40 per cent up on 2006, lemons, which are forecast to be 36 per cent up, plums, at 31 per cent higher, nectarines, up by 25 per cent, and cherries, 20 per cent up. The biggest losses have been in oranges, which show a 14 per cent decline, and avocados, which could drop by as much as 10 per cent. The figure for avocados is not as bad as first feared when freezing temperatures swept through Chile this winter.

According to Echeverría the increases expected in plums and nectarines are down to recovery in crops which suffered during 2005 and 2006 from a saturation of the marketplace and unseasonable growing conditions. This season, though, the federation president is expecting export levels to return to those of 2004.

The low value of the dollar is of great concern to Chile’s growers and exporters alike as the 2007-08 season gets underway. “They have got to struggle with the growing demands of export markets and the cost of labour,” said Echeverría.

This is particularly noticeable in grapes and stonefruit, he added, and there could therefore be a decline in exports of these lines that could be taken advantage of by senders in Brazil and Peru. “Lowering labour costs does not mean lower salaries,” he said. “What we need are workers who can carry out more jobs and who are more productive.”

Topics