From January to October this year, Chile’s fresh fruit exports amounted to $79.962 billion, an increase of 0.9% over the same period in 2023. According to statistics, in October alone, exports amounted to $8.721 billion, an increase of 12.2% compared to the same month of the previous year. Research conducted by the Market Intelligence Division of ProChile’s Strategic Development Agency, based on data provided by the National Customs Administration as of October 2024 Fresh fruit exports are already at record levels. Recognized for their quality, variety and sustainable production, Chilean-origin fruits have become a sought-after food item around the world. The Chilean agri-food sector is one of the most dynamic sectors of the national economy.
What is The Overview of Chile’s Fresh Fruit Exports
In fact, despite the fact that there is still more than a month to go before the end of the year, exports of fresh fruit have already reached 5.248 billion dollars, an increase of 20.5% in relation to 2023, a figure that exceeds the record growth of 20.3% set in 2022. In terms of destinations, the most important market is China, with exports amounting to $2.198 billion, a 26.6% increase compared to the same period last year. This was followed by the United States, with shipments of US$1.210 billion, up 11.9 percent, and Brazil, with shipments of US$209 million, up 71.1 percent. Marambio, president of the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association, said fruit exports are an important engine of economic development in Chile, with annual exports expected to reach $7 billion in 2024 and exceed $10 billion by 2030.
From the export categories, the export volume of grapes ranked first, the export volume of 528,800 tons, an increase of 6.6%; apples and cherries were second and third respectively, the export volume of 517,600 tons and 413,900 tons, an increase of 2.4% and 3.3% respectively. Chilean avocado exports also surged in 2024.
Ignacio Fernandez, director of Chile’s General Directorate of Export Promotion, said that Chilean fruits have won a place in the global market for their outstanding quality, safety, and taste, and have boosted the development of the entire agricultural sector, with exports exceeding $7 billion in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of nearly 9%. The figures show the excellent results of the public-private partnership strategy, with the Vice Ministry of International Economic Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the General Directorate of Export Promotion putting in a lot of effort to promote trade diversification, offer quality products and promote exports.
Why Chilean Fresh Fruit is Loved by Consumers
Located on the west coast of South America, Chile is known as the “end of the world”. For Chileans, it is the beginning of a magical home. As the longest and narrowest country in the world, Chile has 4,329 kilometers of land, sky and sea. It may sound unbelievable that there are a total of 27 different climate types in the world, and Chile accounts for 23 of them! But it is also the diversity of climates and the abundance of natural resources that allow Chile to develop economic activities in areas such as mining, renewable energy, astronomy, agriculture and livestock.
Having an unrivaled natural barrier is a significant advantage for Chile. The exceptional topography builds a natural barrier and makes Chile an ideal mecca for agricultural cultivation, with the Atacama Desert to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west, the shelter of the Andes Mountains to the east, and the Patagonian Ice Sheet to the south. This geography gives the crops that grow on Chilean soil the right temperature, humidity, water, light and soil, and protects them from pests and harsh climatic conditions.
Because Chile and the major exporting countries are in the northern and southern hemispheres, the seasons are opposite. As a result, many countries, including the United States, have access to a wide variety of fresh fruits from Chile throughout the year. From cherries, blueberries, grapes and drupes to apples, pears, kiwis and citrus, Chile offers a wide variety of pure and delicious quality fruits.
Mining, forestry, fisheries and agriculture are the four pillars of Chile’s national economy, and after the Pinochet government came to power in 1974, it implemented economic reforms, restructured the industry, opened up the market, and expanded all-round free trade. Chile’s economy has maintained rapid growth for many years, and its comprehensive competitiveness, degree of economic liberalization, market openness, and international credit rating are among the highest in Latin America, which is regarded as a model for economic development in Latin America. Total exports and imports account for about 60% of Chile’s GDP. It has a free trade policy with a uniformly low tariff rate (6% on average since 2003). Trade relations with more than 170 countries and territories around the world have significantly reduced the cost of Chilean fruit and made it more affordable.
Why The Chilean Fruit Industry Has Risen to The Top
Rewind to 50 years ago, Chileans should be difficult to think that these not conspicuous fruits would earn their own country so lucrative interests, not to mention that Chile will become the world’s “orchard”.
In the 1970s, the Chilean government decided to liberalize the Chilean economy in order to lift the country out of its economic difficulties. By 2013, Chile had concluded 22 free trade agreements with 60 economies. The export-oriented economic policy encouraged farmers to switch from growing food for domestic supply to growing fruit for export to the international market. To develop an export-oriented fruit industry, Chile invested billions of dollars in fruit production in the 1980s and 1990s. The area planted with fruit trees increased from 50,000 hectares in the 1970s to 160,000 hectares in the 2000s. Export agriculture has become the most dynamic and strongest sector of the Chilean economy.
In addition to this, the success of Chile’s fruit industry comes from the fruit industry’s whole chain layout and economies of scale. In Chile, fruit production, sorting and packing operations, marketing and even export trade are all considered together, and one fruit company often owns thousands or even tens of thousands of hectares of orchards. Large-scale planting base next to the sorting and packaging plant, cold storage facilities and other facilities, and seriously to achieve the same technical standards, consistent fruit quality. Moreover, the Chileans take the promotion of their own agricultural products as a matter of great importance. Chilean fruit exporters association in Asia alone a year to promote the cost of up to 5 million U.S. dollars, promotional activities, including in-store promotions, outdoor advertising, television advertising and social media promotion.
Think about Southeast Asia and other countries, although the natural conditions are very suitable for the production of a variety of fruits, the farmers only care about planting, traders in the purchase of sorting, and retailers in the sale of artificially cut industrial chain correlation, forming a blockage.
In this way, Chile overcame the rugged terrain, the overall narrowness of the country and other serious inherent shortcomings, but became one of the world’s largest exporters of fresh fruit. Chile currently has more than 8,000 orchards and more than 500 fruit exporters throughout the country, exporting more than 70 kinds of fruit to more than 100 countries around the world.
