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Jorge Manterola<\/strong>, director of Blueberries Consulting<\/p><\/div>\n AgriBrasilis – How is the blueberry market in Chile? Who are the main buyers?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jorge Esquivel – <\/strong>The Chilean blueberry industry is mainly dedicated to exporting. Chilean production is rarely geared towards the domestic market.<\/p>\n The main destination is North America (USA and Canada), where more than 50% of exports go. The rest is exported to Europe, with 30%, the Far East, with 10%, Latin America and the Middle East.<\/p>\n In recent years, the Asian market share has increased rapidly, particularly China. Sales quotas are still small, although they are increasing.<\/p>\n AgriBrasilis – What are the most important companies in this sector? What varieties are grown, in which regions?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jorge Esquivel –<\/strong> The main producing and exporting companies are Hortifrut, Agroberries, Prize, GiddingsFruit, Niceblue, Copefrut, Frusan, Dole, Zurgroup, CarSolFruit, Northbay Produce, among others.<\/p>\n Blueberries in Chile are cultivated from the Coquimbo region (known as the \u201cfourth region\u201d), with a semi-desert climate, to the Los Lagos region (\u201ctenth region\u201d), with an austral, cold and rainy climate. Different varieties are used in each area. Harvesting time for each variety can classified as early, intermediate or late, with low or high requirements for cold hours.<\/p>\n Three regions of the country represent 71% of shipments: Maule, \u00d1uble and Biob\u00edo, and are located in the central zone of the country, with a temperate climate.<\/p>\n Chile grows the Legacy, Duke, Brigitta, Brightwell, Blue Ribbon varieties, among others, although the main Chilean varieties are Legacy and Duke, that account for almost 40% of the country’s total shipments.<\/p>\n AgriBrasilis – How did the last Chilean harvests behave? What factors have led to the recent expansion of the frozen blueberry market?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jorge Esquivel –<\/strong> The expiration of the varieties cultivated by the Chilean industry caused a drop in the production of the last harvests, falling from more than 110,000 tonnes, three or four years ago, to 80,000.<\/p>\n To face this situation, an important varietal replacement was initiated, but because of the edaphoclimatic conditions in Chile, this process has been slow compared to Peru, for example, where a plant starts producing from the 1st<\/sup> year. In Chile, production takes two or three harvests, and four or five to reach the maximum productive potential.<\/p>\n Added to this is the fact that the quality of the fruit of these varieties does not follow the standards required by new consumers, that is why a large part of the production has to come from the frozen food industry.<\/p>\n Another reason for the drop in fresh blueberry exports is the low prices registered in the market, that leads many farmers to prefer to send the frozen fruit and carry out mechanized harvesting, saving labor.<\/p>\n AgriBrasilis – How have costs behaved in the sector?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jorge Esquivel –<\/strong> The industry’s costs and profitability also varied. Costs have increased because of the impact of the pandemic on the logistics and transport sector, and the war in Ukraine, regarding fertilizers, for example.<\/p>\n Furthermore, the values of the fruit on the world market have dropped because of increased supply, so the profitability of the business has declined.<\/p>\n AgriBrasilis – What is the importance of genetics and the development of new varieties? What characteristics are sought in breeding?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jorge Esquivel –<\/strong> The objetctive of the new genetic improvements is to solve various needs of the industry, such as lower sensitivity of the plant to pests and diseases; greater water efficiency and, above all, better fruit quality, in terms of size, flavor, turgidity and firmness, to face long journeys to destination markets.<\/p>\n
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