The 2023-2024 season has turned out to be very challenging for Chilean fruits, with mixed results by market, according to Frutas de Chile, citing the Chilean Fruit Stone Committee.
The main milestone, without a doubt, is that historical highs were reached in terms of exported volumes and FOB values of the entire stone category, which includes Japanese plums, European plums (Sugar Plums), nectarines, peaches, and apricots.
Furthermore, the largest market, China (56 percent share of total exports to the world), presented challenging results, because although it grew in shipments by 25 percent, it only achieved 5 percent growth in FOB values, compared to the U.S. (19 percent share of total exports) that grew significantly in FOB values (+20 percent), despite decreasing 1 percent in volume.
The president of Frutas de Chile, Iván Marambio, highlighted: “This season our shipments of fresh pits are marking an important milestone, after closing with a record of 36.5 million boxes sent to the world, reflecting an increase of 18 percent compared to the volume of the previous year. While in terms of FOB values, these also experienced a growth of 14 percent with $519 million. This growth, without a doubt, is marking a new era and recovery for the Chilean stone industry.”
By variety, the volumes shipped of Japanese plums reached 13,959,016 boxes (7 kilos each), with an increase of 24 percent compared to the previous season. Nectarines increased 14 percent with exports of 11.6 million boxes (8 kilos each), while European plums (Sugar Plums) experienced an increase of 23 percent, totaling 8.1 million boxes. (9 kilos each).
Ignacio Caballero, executive director of the Chilean Carozos Frutas Committee, said: “The results of the closing of the season reflect, in addition to a recovery in the volume of this category, a new impulse for this industry thanks to the work and guidelines of the recently formed committee. Carozos should represent close to 80 percent of the total volume exported of fresh stones by Chile during the next season. However, the good news is that there are still multiple challenges to work on, especially in China.”
Caballero stated that, “in terms of FOB values, our stone exports are in second place globally for the period from 2014 to 2023; where fresh Chilean plums stand out, taking first place globally in FOB values.” While also highlighting “our global shipments of nectarines are in first place within the southern hemisphere in FOB values, and in fifth position worldwide.”
