Ideal winter leads to good expectations for coming 2022/23 Chilean cherry season

The coming 2022-2023 Chilean cherry season is expected to be a good quality season following ideal winter weather conditions that bode well for this leading crop exported mainly to China. According to Claudia Soler Bottinelli, executive director of the Chilean Cherry Committee: “Winter rain and snow conditions have been ideal.”

According to Asoex data, Chile exported 356,348 tons of cherries in the 2021-2022 season; 313,237 tons of which were shipped to China. Chilean cherry exports to China surpassed the $2 billion mark, last season, while it could reach close to 3 billion dollars this coming season.

Soler Bottinelli commented while hosting and attending a very busy Chile pavilion at Fruit Attraction 2022 held in Madrid this week. “So far, cherry production conditions have been ideal in Chile. We had a good winter in terms of quantity and quality of cold hours. In addition, there has been good rain and snow accumulation in the winter, which will secure water for the season. So, in terms of quality, we should expect a good season.”

At a recent cherry blossom ceremony held in Chile to mark the symbolic start of the season, all the factors that are needed for a successful season were listed.

Paulina Valderrama, general director of ProChile highlighted; “How to have fruit of correct quality, safety and sweetness; an expedited logistics chain and favorable weather conditions, promotions are also essential, especially to boost consumption of the growing volumes of shipments of Chilean cherries. The cherry is the great ambassador of Chilean export fruits. Thanks to private public work, our country is the world’s leading exporter of cherries with 41.6% of the world market. ProChile and Asoex have been working on the `Cherries from Chile` sector brand for 7 years, which has contributed to this international positioning, with great success in China and other Asian markets.”