A new record high volume of fresh fruit was exported from Chile to customers across the globe in 2009-10.
The bare statistics do not tell the whole story of a season badly disrupted by a devastating 8.8 magnitude earthquake on February 27. However, in many ways, the fact that 2.46 million tones of fruit left the country despite the damage inflicted by the country's worst natural disaster for decades was a major triumph for the industry.
The final volume of 2,466,824 tones was three per cent higher compared to the previous season and piped the previous record high year of 2006-07 by 60,000 tones.
The main drivers behind this were large increases in exports of apples, avocados and to a lesser extent, oranges, lemons and blueberries.
The apple category overtook table grapes as the leading volume sender of the season, although only by less than 1,000t. There was a 17 per cent rise in exports of red and bi-coloured varieties, to 676,233t, and a four per cent rise for green strains, to 123,661t.
Table grapes, which like apples represent 32 per cent of the overall volume of fresh fruit exported from Chile, declined slightly year-on-year, as the earthquake and climatic factors hit at a key point in the season. International customers received 798,928t of Chilean table grape varieties, a six per cent drop on the 2008-09 figures.
With a season that began after the worst of the disruption had been dealt with, the avocado sector registered a rise of 33 per cent year-on-year, to 153,976t, following an off year. Avocado now sits as the fourth largest export crop, with six per cent of the market overall in volume terms.
And the citrus sector also performed strongly, with lemon exports up 64 per cent to 50,302t and orange sending rising 16 per cent to 47,619t.
The blueberry sector, which has large volumes coming through due to heavy plantings in the last few years, did not reach the levels it had hoped for at the beginning of the season. But a 20 per cent increase in exports, to 49,893t pushed its share of the market to two per cent.
The stone fruit season was first impacted upon by inclement weather and also, towards its end, the earthquake, and the eventual result was a 23 per cent drop in plum sending, a five per cent fall in nectarines and a 19 per cent decrease in the volume of peaches sent to external markets.
Exports to the European market were four per cent lower last season, and the continent's share of overall Chilean fresh fruit exports dropped to 29 per cent, second behind the US/Canada, which took 38 per cent of the export crop. The Middle East (six per cent) and Asia (11 per cent) both slightly increased their share, while Latin America remained stable at 17 per cent. The most significant additional sending to Europe in 09-10 were a 76 per cent rise in avocado and a 36 per cent hike in blueberries.
Early forecasts for 2010-11
Information specialist Decofrut reports that, to date, the weather conditions across the earlier growing regions in the north of Chile have proved favorable to most of the main fruit crops. There have been some frost spells, which affected the tail end of both citrus and avocado production. However, by the end of those seasons, exports were not significantly reduced.
The latest global volume export estimates for the major fruit crops are as follows:
Blueberries +15% - due to new plantations and stabilization of yield rates
Cherries Volumes have risen significantly to date, reaching 56.074 tones vs. 33.379 tones registered during the same period last season.
Table grapes +6% growth
Apples +2% growth (growth mainly from Gala and Pink Lady / Cripps Pink apples)
Plums +17% growth
Kiwifruit +5% growth
Please note that these are very early estimates and final figures could vary.
Key facts and figures
The Chilean fresh fruit industry has more than 7,800 growers of fresh fruit with over five hectares of land. Our 835 exporting companies are working with more than 2,000 fruit importers around the world, sending an average of 65 per cent of Chile's fresh fruit production to all corners of the globe. Consumers in more than 100 countries in the world enjoy 75 different species of Chilean fruit, an array made possible by the wide spread of microclimates across Chile's fertile growing regions.
Chile exports around 60 per cent of the fruit from the southern hemisphere. It is the world's largest exporter of table grapes, apples, plums and blueberries, the second ranked exporter of avocados and third highest sender of cherries and kiwifruit.
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