Chilean citrus exports increase 48% in 2023

Overview of citrus from Chile in the U.S. market, complemented by charts from Agronometrics. Original published on December 15, 2023.

This season, Chile has exported 395,889 tons of citrus, of which 15.5 percent correspond to clementines; 43.7 percent to mandarins; 23.7 percent oranges; and 17.1 percent lemons, according to Simfruit, quoting Juan Enrique Ortuzar, the president of the Chilean Fruit Citrus Committee.

“The season closed well. It was a season that finally ended up giving several positive surprises in terms of export volume. In clementines the export volume recovered very strongly, in mandarins we almost doubled last year’s total export. In lemons we recovered something, and in oranges we also finished well. Therefore, it was a season in which volumes recovered strongly. The market was relatively stable, in clementines, despite the increase in volume, the market remained at a certain acceptable level in prices and from that point of view the season ended well,” said Ortuzar.

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

Regarding markets, Ortuzar indicated that “U.S. is our main market, and it is good. The market has been growing in different commodities. It’s still early as to how next season will perform. The Asian market and countries like Japan and Korea are very important for lemons. Japan is an important market, but it is not growing, therefore, volumes are adjusted for higher quality fruit. It is a very demanding market, therefore quality fruit is relatively limited.”

Regarding the results by market, the committee confirmed the U.S. as the main destination market, receiving 88.2 percent of what was shipped, while the remaining volume was exported to the Far East (5.9 percent), Latin America (2.8 percent) and Europe (1.8 percent), Canada (0.9 percent), Russia (0.3 percent) and the Middle East (0.01 percent).

In relation to exports by commodities, the volume of clementines was 47 percent more than the previous season, reaching 61,490 tons of exports, with the U.S. being the main destination market, with 98.4 percent of the total shipments. Shipments of clementines this season are 14 percent more compared to the last three seasons.

In the case of mandarins, shipments reached 172,825 tons, which is equivalent to a volume that is 94 percent higher than in 2022 and 52 percent compared to the average of the last 3 seasons. Of the total exported, 93.6 percent were received in the U.S., with 70 percent destined for the East Coast and 30 percent for the West Coast.

As for oranges, shipments – compared to last season – were 17 percent more, reaching 93,948 tons of exports. The main destination market was the U.S. with 90.9 percent of shipments.

Finally, lemons, during this season, had an increase of 20 percent, and a total of shipments of 67,627 tons. Of the total lemons exported, 61.6 percent were destined for the U.S.; while 33.6 percent went to the Far East, of which 17,051 tons were sold in Japan and 5,526 tons in South Korea. Of the remaining exports, 4.4 percent was sent to Europe, and the remainder to Latin America and Canada.

The News in Charts is a collection of stories from the industry complemented by charts from Agronometrics to help better tell their story.

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