Fruit shipments from the Terminal Pacífico Sur at Chile’s Port of Valparaíso have risen by 33 per cent during the first three months of 2011, according to a report by El Mercurio de Valparaíso.
The biggest increase was recorded in March when some 311,700 tonnes of fruit were dispatched from the terminal, up 43.5 per cent on the 217,300 tonnes handled during the same month of 2010.
Product-wise, between the end of March and the beginning of April, table grapes to the US market ranked as the leading export item, the report said.
“The Chilean fruit industry is increasingly focusing on exports, except in the case of avocados and mandarins which are more centred on the internal market,” explained Manuel José Alcaíno, president of Decofrut.
“Cherry exports have reached almost double last year and peaches/plums have registered a 22-25 per cent increase in production against 2010 when climate problems reduced crop volume.”
Mr Alcaíno also noted that table grapes represent one Chilean fruit category whose exports have risen considerably to alternative markets like Europe, China and South Korea.
