You have been president of Fedefruta for five months now. Tell us about your background.

I have worked in the fruit industry for 28 years. I started out working as an agronomist for an exporter, and then in 1995 I began working for myself. In 1998 we started Gesex, a specialist in grapes, stonefruit and recently, citrus. I have been director of fruit for the past 10 years.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE AS PRESIDENT?

My vision is to try to ensure growers make a change in the way they produce and export. In what sense? In the sense that these days some of the people that are producing fruit are changing the way they do things. But there are also many – the medium-sized and smaller producers – that still maintain their traditional ways. This is especially true of fruit-growing farms, where the lands have sometimes not been renewed. We have tried to show producers and exporters different ways of working, so they export directly. At least to show them what the different ways are. For them to know what’s happening in the world of exports so they are a bit closer to what’s going on. Before, producers just grew and gave the fruit to a big exporter. Today there’s a lot of integration between the growers and the exporters.

WHAT ARE THE MAJOR ISSUES FACING GROWERS IN CHILE AT THE MOMENT?

The problem with growers in Chile is that they are very conservative and they struggle with change. So sometimes they hear the dollar is low, they are having problems with their returns, it’s getting expensive to keep growing, and every day there are more problems with farm workers – but if they just do nothing there will be no produce. So we are trying to acknowledge the problem. We know there are not many workers, and every day there will be fewer, because Chile is evolving and is very close to becoming [a first-world country]. There’s [only] seven per cent unemployment, so nearly everyone’s employed, and as the country becomes more developed younger people don’t want to work in the countryside. And that is a reality that is very difficult for the growers to admit.

WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT THIS PROBLEM?

Chile still has a law that they can only have up to 15 per cent of foreign people working. We have asked the government to change this and increase the percentage but the government said ‘actually you are still not using that 15 per cent’ [98 per cent of farm workers are still Chileans]. We have to prepare ourselves to have more foreign workers. We as an organisation are working with the government and exporters to start implementing a plan of how to bring workers to Chile. The answer will be that in time we’ll need some kind of special accommodation for them – hotels or temporary homes – so when they arrive we actually have proper infrastructure to receive them.

WHAT CROPS ARE DOING WELL AT PRESENT?

There’s a boom in cherries in Chile. About six or seven years ago all the cherries were exported by plane to nearby countries such as the USA. Now 90 per cent of the cherries are exported by boat, and 60 per cent of all cherries produced by Chile go to China. It’s incredible how it’s changed, because the technology has changed. The packaging has also improved, so today you can have a cherry that takes 38 days to arrive to China in perfect condition. And the Chinese are crazy about them.

HOW IMPORTANT IS THE OPENING OF THE ASIAN MARKET FOR YOU?

They have also just opened exports to China and Korea for blueberries, and we have high expectations for this as it’s an area that is growing. It also makes a big difference how the demand of different countries has changed. The biggest growth has been in Asia – China, Thailand, Vietnam etc. This opening up of Asia has also improved the market to the USA and Europe, because there is less pressure now. The Asian market is very picky in terms of quality, but they don’t have all the requirements that Europe and the UK have on regulations and certifications. So because growers have to comply with fewer regulations, it’s easier for them to sell it to Asia because the prices are good.

WHAT'S THE BREAKDOWN OF WHERE YOUR PRODUCE IS EXPORTED?

Last year exports were about 30 per cent to the USA, 30 per cent to Europe, 20 per cent to Asia, and the rest is for Latin America. Those traditional markets are down about five to eight per cent. We can foresee Asia will keep going strongly as a market.

HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP THE MOOD OF THE INDUSTY AT THE MOMENT?

Commercially we see a good future. Internally in Chile we have these problems to sort out – the lower amount of workers and the low dollar are our two big issues. We have also been affected in some regions with drought. But overall Chile has the great advantage that it has a privileged climate to grow fruit. It’s important for retailers and UK importers to know Chile will keep on growing, but it won’t have massive peaks like 10 per cent growth. We’ll keep increasing steadily. So we are going to keep growing and sending to Europe, but retailers must realise that producing fruit is difficult and costly. And consumers also need to know this. —