A group of senior executives from different supermarket chains in the United States were invited by the Association of Exporters Fruits de Chile AG, Asoex, together with ProChile, to see for themselves, how the Chilean fruit industry and its operations work. This helped them clearly understand the availability period of counter season fruit and the fruit production chain prior to export.
The Chilean Fresh Fruit Association for North America (CFFA) coordinated the visit, as part of its efforts to promote their national fruit in the United States and Canadian markets.
Representatives of ASOEX, Ronald Bown, Gonzalo Huerta, and Sergio Maureira attended the welcoming meeting. Rodrigo Lopez, general manager of the OTIC AGROCAP, Andrew Armstrong, CEO of Chilean Blueberry Committee; Monserrat Valenzuela, manager of Citrus Committee; Elizabeth Köhler, general coordinator of the Kiwi Committee, Karen Brux, executive director of the CFFA for North America, and Allison Myers, regional charge of the central United States of CFFA, were also present at said meeting.
The representatives of the US retail chains were Brendon Joseph Krieg, Senior Sourcing Leader of Target; Michael Jon Tucker, Sourcing Leader of the same chain; Ngee Tan Kok, of T & T Supermarkets; Joseph Perotto, of Roundys; Scot Marvin Olson, of Grocery Outlets; Charles Vincent Gardner, of Wegmans; and Kelly Davis, of Wakefern.
Ronald Bown, President of ASOEX said: "These visits allow us to show, in the field, all the production and export processes of Chilean fruit, as well as the work that our partnership develops to help the fruit export industry. These visits take place in order to strengthen ties with the US retail chains. The United States continued to be the main destination for the Chilean fruit market during the 2013-2014 season. We shipped 753,248 tons to this market and the main exports -in terms of volume- were table grapes, apples, oranges and avocados."
"The retailers are here to represent large supermarket chains within the US market and Canada, both at the regional or national level. They have different target audiences and markets, so they pose diverse opportunities for the Chilean fruit. For example, Target is the sixth largest chain in the US with over a thousand stores, while Wegmans is a family and regional chain that sells very high quality products, and some brands are dedicated to satisfy very specific demands, such as T & T, which meets the needs of the Asian consumers living in America," said Karen Brux, executive director of the CFFA.
The American retailer representatives said their consumers had great interest in knowing the origin of the fruit they eat, that its production process was environmentally friendly, and that the companies respected the farm workers. "This visit allows us to see on the ground that the fruit we import complies with what our customers ask for, especially now that they can access a wealth of information through the Internet and social networks, which are becoming more relevant by the day, with just a click," said one of the representatives.
They also added that the organic market in North America has experienced tremendous growth and that consumers are willing to pay more for it and for quality products. "Our consumers demand value not only in terms of price, but also that the fruits they eat are sweet and have a rich flavour, so that they'll want to buy it whenever it is available," said the representative of T & T.
The group arrived in Chile on Sunday January 11 and will stay in the country until Friday 16.
The visit
Prior to the welcome meeting in ASOEX, the delegation visited some avocado, table grape, and nectarine orchards and packing houses, as well as the SAG / USDA-APHIS / ASOEX Lo Herrera phytosanitary inspection site, where they saw in situ how the national fruit is inspected before it is shipped to the United States.
On Tuesday the delegation travelled to the region of La Araucanía, where they visited kiwifruit orchards and packing. Yesterday, January 14th, the delegation visited blueberry orchards and packing facilities in the southern region. And today they will tour apple orchards and visit national retailers.
Finally, tomorrow, Friday, they will move to the Valparaíso Region, where they will visit other orchards and get to know the facilities of the Port of Valparaíso.