The Chilean export industry has been given a new tagline by export promotions body Prochile - ‘Chile - All Ways Surprising’.
Announced by head of Prochile Hugo Lavados and Chilean Exporters’ Association (Asoex) chairman Ronald Bown, at last week’s Southern Hemisphere Congress in Santiago, the new strap will represent Chilean products in its international markets.
Lavados said the play on words was used “in the sense that Chile always exceeds you expectations” and added that the country’s fresh fruit export sector has never been in ruder health. “There has been a ten-fold increase in exports in the last 20 years,” he said, “from $200 million to in the neighbourhood of $2 billion. It is a very important sector for our national economy and the future of Chile.”
Bown said that fresh produce represents 43 per cent of Chile’s agricultural export value. “Some 9.142m people eat a portion of Chilean fruit every day. Chile is the 17th largest food exporter in the world, with 132 per cent growth between 1996 and 2005.” The forecast is that by 2010, Chile will have reached ninth on the global list.
Both men stressed the need to continue strengthening the public and private sector link, to take full advantage of trade agreements, while Bown called for greater integration, unity, a reduction in bureaucracy and the maintenance of a long-term vision that proactively responds to the demands of consumers around the world. “Today, we must think of tomorrow,” he said, “our goal must be to export a wider range of products to a wider range of customers.”
