Three days before the start of the new year, Chilean cherry shipments registered a rise in the Brazilian market. “To date, Brazil has imported 630,000 boxes of cherries. By the same date of the previous season, it had imported 450,000 boxes,” stated Julio Cesar Zanardi, founder of Garden Fruit, one of Brazil's largest fruit importers.
Chilean exporters have increased the volume exported by trucks to closer and more economical destinations, such as Brazil, due to the logistical crisis and the increase in freight and costs. Importers are betting on popularizing the consumption of this fruit in summer.
Zanardi says that Chile has been sending cherries to Brazil for years, but that there's been an increase in the volumes shipped in the 2022-23 campaign because of Chile's increased production. “Up until today, our company has received 190,000 five-kilo boxes versus the 105,000 boxes we had received in the previous season. Thus, we project that we will reach 220,000 boxes, versus the previous 110,000,” Zanardi stated. “Brazil will import about 700,000 boxes of Chilean cherries in this campaign, i.e. almost 35% more than the 520,000 boxes that it imported in the previous season.”
Brazil imports cherries from December to January, which coincides with the beginning of summer in the country and are the months in which Zanardi is committed to increasing the consumption of this fruit. “We want to popularize cherries and have people consume them on a daily basis, just like apples, which are used in all preparations.”
“Chile does not send so much cherry to Brazil because consumption is still low, prices aren't that good, and because this market is still not in a position to compete with a mature market like China,” stated Ivan Marambio, the president of ASOEX.
Source: redagricola.com