Monserrat Valenzuela, chairman of Comit é de C í tricos of the association of Chilean fruit exporters (asoex), said recently that he would strengthen the promotion of Chilean lemons in the Chinese market.
According to a report on Chile’s simfruit website, Valenzuela pointed out: “China is still a very new market for Chilean citrus fruits. This year, we will focus on the promotion of Citrus in China.”
In recent years, Chile’s citrus industry has made great progress. According to the latest data released by the citrus Commission of Chile, the total export volume of citrus fruits in Chile has increased from 205852 tons to 397569 tons in just six years from 2015 to 2021, an increase of 93.12%. Among them, the export volume of Chilean sweet orange in the same period increased from 66611 tons to 103161 tons, an increase of 54.9%. In addition, the export volume of lemons in Chile also increased by 136%, while the export volume of oranges increased by 164%.
As for sweet orange, Valenzuela said: “at present, the orange tree planting area in Chile is about 6300 hectares, mainly distributed in Coquimbo and O’Higgins. Our main export variety is navel orange, but at the same time, we also plant Cara Cara, which is a very successful red flesh variety. The planting area in China is about 500 hectares.”
“At present, Chilean sweet oranges are mainly sold to the United States and some specific countries in Europe. From the current situation, Asia has not become the main market for Chilean sweet oranges.” She added, “citrus fruits have unique advantages in terms of taste, vitamin C content, size and convenience, which makes them a simple snack in people’s daily life.”
Looking forward to this year’s citrus fruit production season, Valenzuela said: “due to the high freight, logistics problems and the impact of the COVID-19, this will be a very difficult season for all citrus fruits. However, thanks to the emergence of more labor, the harvesting and packaging of citrus will become easier.”
“As far as Chilean sweet orange is concerned, it is expected that the output of this season will be reduced by about 13%. However, we still hope that its export volume can reach 90000 tons. The sweet orange fruit in this season looks very good, with moderate size and sugar content in line with expectations.” Valenzuela said.
Source: South American overseas Chinese News Network
Post time: Jun-22-2022