In order to promote the potential of Chilean fresh fruit within the Dutch Foodservice, ProChile, in partnership with the Association of Fruit Exporters of Chile AG (ASOEX), organised last Monday a workshop called "Opportunities and challenges in the supply of Chilean fruit to Foodservice operators". The conference was attended by major importers, distributors and operators in the Foodservice or Horeca from the Netherlands.
During the presentation, the representative of ASOEX stressed that, over the last 30 years, Chile has invested in the improvement of its export practices and has recorded a substantial increase in the number of fruit traders. Fresh fruit accounts for 32% of the country's total exports, and of this percentage, 41% goes to the Netherlands, 16% to the UK and 12% to Russia. There has also been a steady growth of Dutch imports, and while grapes are still in the lead in the list of imported Chilean fruits, other fruits, like avocados, pears, kiwis and blueberries, continue to gain a stronger foothold in the European market.
Charif Christian Carvajal, Marketing Director of ASOEX for Asia and Europe, said that "it is important to make it clear that Chile is a kind of One Stop Shop; that is, a country that has the capacity to meet every need when it comes to fruit supply in the horeca (hotels, restaurants and catering) in the Netherlands. We have the products that are traditionally consumed by the Dutch, such as table grapes, apples and pears, but also products considered superfoods or more exotic, such as blueberries, cherries and pomegranates."
The seminar also stressed that, in total, more than 2.3 million Chilean fruits are intended for export; trade that generates more than 450,000 direct jobs. Considering that Chile has several microclimates, it is to be expected that the development of different fruit varieties for international destinations has become a reality. This has given a boost to the progressive growth of potential exporters, thus allowing Chile to become the world's largest supplier of blueberries, and the second largest of cherries.
Carvajal pointed out that there is currently great potential to introduce more fresh fruit to the Foodservice, as a Nielsen study, "Snack Attack" (2014-2015), revealed that healthy snacks have become a trend, and one that is apparently here to stay in Europe, where this sector now has an industry worth 167,000 million dollars. "The foodservice sector could also take advantage of this consumer trend, as the study, which covered a population of more than 30,000 consumers, found that about 62% of them, when buying a snack, prefer those that contain fresh fruit. This trend could also be given a push with recipes that help demonstrate the versatility of our fruits. These recipes are available and ready to download at www.fruitsfromchile.com”.