Chilean Fruit Exports to China Grow by 11% in 2018/19 Season

According to data obtained from the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association (ASOEX), Chile exported roughly 1.54 million tons of fresh fruit in the 2018/19 season (ending March 28, 2019), a year-over-year (YOY) increase of 1.16%.
 
The Asian market registered the strongest growth for Chilean fruit, with exports to the region increasing 12.02% to 454,064 tons and accounting for 29.5% of Chile’s total fruit shipments. Exports to China rose 11% to 351,182 tons, making China the top customer for Chilean fresh fruit in Asia – China accounts for fully 22.8% of Chile’s global fruit exports. After China, South Korea (47,624 tons, up 34.06% YOY) and India (20,071 tons, a YOY increase of 18.59%) were the second and third largest importers of Chilean fruit in Asia, respectively.
 
The top six categories for Chilean fruit in Asia for the 2018/19 season by volume were cherries (166,304 tons), table grapes (131,103 tons), plums (76,784 tons), apples (25,462 tons), nectarines (23,345 tons) and avocados (13,805 tons). It is worth noting that Chilean plum exports to Asia recorded an impressive growth rate of 78% this past season. 
 
Taking a closer look at China, Chile remained heavily reliant on the Chinese market to export its cherries: in the 2018/19 season, 157,986 tons of Chilean cherries were shipped to China, a minor decrease of 1.10% compared to the previous season. Other top performing categories of Chilean fruit in China included plums (74,639 tons, up 82.59% YOY), table grapes (69,285 tons, down 5.20% YOY), nectarines (20,232 tons, up 21.64% YOY), avocados (13,350 tons, up 10.22% YOY), blueberries (9,855 tons, up 1.65% YOY), and apples (4,741 tons, up 61.1% YOY).

Image Source: MZMC