Mexican berry producers hope to conquer China

Mexico's blackberry and raspberry producers hope that the China market will make up around 20 percent of their exports in the future, the President of the Mexico's National Association of Berry Exporters (Aneberries), Mario Andrade, told Xinhua on Friday.

The sales of blackberry and raspberry this year will amount to around 50 million U.S. dollars, nowhere near the amount Mexican producers annually sells to its main market, the United States, which makes up 85 percent of Mexico's exports.

However, 2016 is only the second year in which Mexico exports blackberries and raspberries to China. The two countries signed a phytosanitary protocol on export and import of the fruits in 2014.

In 2015, when the agreement formally went into effect, exports to China only amounted to 70 tons because the trade opened in January, when the production season was practically half way through in Mexico, which usually runs from October to April, said Andrade.

In December 2015, a Boeing 777 cargo plane carrying 100 tons of Chilean cherries and blueberries to northeast China's Shenyang Province marked the first regular line of charter flights that bring fresh fruits from Chile to northeast China in only 20 hours a single trip instead of 25 days via shipment.

Source: Xinhua Net