Since 2011, Costa Rica has been promoting its products in Chile, managing to steadily increase its export volumes to this South American market.
"We are quite satisfied with the results obtained since we started the process in 2011. We have kept growing, not as quickly as we would like, but with a clear upward trend. Last year, Costa Rica made almost 30 million U.S. dollars from its exports to the Chilean market," says Marcial Chaverri, Southern Cone director of Costa Rica's Foreign Trade Promoter (Procomer).
Currently the most exported items are pineapples and processed products, such as tropical fruit concentrate, pulp and juice, purchased by companies like Alifrut, Watt's and Guallarauco
Regarding the export of Costa Rican rambutan to the Chilean market, the Procomer representative stated that "their export has already been approved by the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG), although it was not possible last year due to a delay in the harvest."
"We expect 2014 to be the first year Costa Rican rambutans will be shipped to Chile, starting in July-August and continuing for three months, although no volume estimations have been made yet. We have received large orders from several supermarket chains, so we are quite optimistic."
However, rambutan is not the only fruit Costa Rica expects to start shipping to Chile, as passion fruit is also ready to be shipped and the introduction of mangoes and papayas is being negotiated.
Lastly, Chaverri stated that, in 2014, Costa Rica expects to surpass "by at least 20% the 2.5 million dollars generated from last year's exports."
Source: portalfruticola.com