Many were caught by surprise by the news, but not the most informed. The merger between Chilenut and the Chilean Walnut Commission will certainly be considered a landmark for the nut industry. The year that has just come to an end was not a good season, for the reasons that we already knew: lower prices, lower volume and lower quality, which globally speaking did not cause significant economic losses, but left some important lessons.
For Chilenut president Álvaro Jiménez, "the season, before the rains, had gone badly enough. The expected greater Chilean supply that followed a high American supply resulted in very poor prices at the start, mostly because of our lack of coordination and information. Our supply faced a much more concentrated demand. This situation, of course, is quite unfavourable for the supply. In the end, the rains made it possible to see that a quality product, which by that time was scarce, should be able to be sold in much better conditions."
"This scenario was a new impulse to seek the convergence between the two organizations," explains Jiménez, because in his opinion "it is necessary to seek common points urgently in order to tackle the constant growth observed in the nut industry, in particular in the case of walnuts, which have already become the second most important, at local level, in terms of acreage, exceeding 40,000 hectares.
The union leader recalled that "bad experiences are suffered by any fruit industry as it grows in terms of acreage or volume and when new players appear. It is total chaos, with each individual seeking to gain ground in detriment of the others, which has serious consequences for the industry as a whole, because when returns fall, everyone is affected in the same proportion," assured Jiménez.
"Fortunately," continued the leader, "we are in time to avoid a debacle, as long as we are able to achieve a comprehensive reorganization of the industry." By having exporters and producers sitting at the same table, we seek to guarantee a consensus on how to handle the season. While no one can be forced to act in one way or another, since the free market and free competition prevail, Jiménez says that the objective is to align the sector on the basis of common achievable and realistic goals, for the benefit of all actors or subsectors that operate in it."
Furthermore, Jiménez also stressed that "within the framework of this integration with the Chilean Walnut Commission, we won't only deal with the commercial aspects and the opening of new markets, but we'll also work to generate the conditions and deliver the guidelines to produce with the quality that characterises us, while ensuring the production of large volumes and being competitive and efficient in our fields to maintain an attractive profitability for all."
Therefore, the head of Chilenut called his representatives to look at the sector's future with optimism, as 80% of the exporting sector and 90% of the country's walnut producers will be represented in the framework of this agreement. Therefore, in their opinion, the decisions taken will be representative for the entire sector, with it being also one with its own dynamics in comparison with other sectors of the national economy.