Due to lower arrivals of Chilean cherries in China, one of the first companies to see their airfreight reach that market and sell out quickly, expect more containers to arrive now in the peak season at higher prices. “Fruit with good arrival were sold at high prices. Due to the low volume into the Cautin Vessel, the market was very excited to receive the Chilean cherries. Actually, we saw selling prices at the same level of air shipments,” according to Claudio Rivadeneira Fernández, Export Manager Asia of Holding San Clemente in Chile.
He says last week’s first container of cherries arrived when the demand was very high and it remains so. “Yes, I would say the demand is high. Everyone is aware about the Chilean situation. The big drop in the volume has created these high expectations. Movement is fast, but only for good fruit. It is very important to mention that the Chinese market will not demand bad fruit. Even though there is less volume, the consumers will pay for good fruit only and the prices for the 2nd category will be low. As Industry, we should have already learnt about this, because years ago the China market was very clear about this, they only pay for good cherries. The other category, they can move it, but the returns will not be good,” cautions Rivadeneira Fernández.
He says due to the smaller than usual volumes on the first ships that arrived in China it sold out very fast. “As mentioned before, due to the small volume in this vessel, the receivers could move at a good pace. The vessels that followed are still with small volumes, so we expect to keep having this good movement for December.”
Rivadeneira Fernández, says Holding San Clemente are not the biggest exporter, but they still move a reasonable amount of containers for the season from Chile. They also have a well-established brand called the Dragon Label, which is well known in China.
“We expect to send about 300 containers. We are not the biggest, but we try to make a difference in the quality of the fruit. We have our Dragon Label, which is very well positioned since 15 years ago, the consumers know about it. Also, this coming Chinese New Year is the Year of the Dragon, so we will be marketing this brand with some partners in China. Our SVA Office is working hard to keep this label known in all the cities/markets, not only in Shanghai or Guangzhou, but also the inner cities. Moreover, retailers are our target as well, therefore, we focus on giving them the best service possible and supply them in order to be present everywhere,” concludes Claudio Rivadeneira.
Claudio Rivadeneira
Holding San Clemente
Email: crivadeneira@sclem.cl
Adolfo Errázuriz
Export Manager Europe
Email: aerrazuriz@sclem.cl
Martín Toro
Commercial Manager
Email: mtoro@sclem.cl