Following restructure of the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association's European programme, Roger Manning, of Inter-Trade International, will no longer be working directly with the country's association of exporters (Asoex).
Ronald Bown, chairman of the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association (CFFA), on behalf of the country's fresh fruit export industry, announced at Fruit Logistica that Manning will not continue to represent the interests of the Chilean export promotional program in Europe.
"The CFFA would like to recognise the important role that Mr Manning has played in the building of a stronger relationship between Chilean importers and European retailers, as well as raising the awareness of our country during the last four seasons," said Bown.
Government-funded promotional agency ProChile has also moved from using Inter-Trade on a contracted basis to a project-based strategy. The news surprised Inter-Trade, which understood that its revised role with this season's campaign would continue through ProChile, promoting fruit alongside a number of food and wine sectors.
Manning said he was originally advised that the CFFA would not be supporting European supermarkets this season. "While hoping to convince the association and exporters to reverse this decision, I had received direct approaches from a number of exporters to co-ordinate their activities in the UK with the major supermarkets," he said in a statement.
Bown, however, said: "The Chilean industry would like to emphasise its strong commitment to supporting the promotion of Chilean fresh fruit in Europe, as an important part of its international strategy. During the current season, promotional activities will be implemented jointly between the CFFA importers and retailers alike, co-ordinated through the CFFA's marketing manager for Europe, Christian Carvajal.”
Manning said that it was only last week that he "became aware that this decision was to be reversed in the case of the leading UK supermarkets". He was greatly surprised to be informed that these activities would now be organised from Santiago.
He added: "We have built up a unique understanding of southern hemisphere fruits and Chile in particular and this has involved working extremely closely with the key importers and employing our retail experience in co-ordinating promotions with the leading UK supermarkets.
"We have been proud to play a key role in raising awareness for Chile and introducing a leadership position in promoting the Chilean fruit industry."
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