Chile: Opening up new blueberry markets

There is little doubt that Chilean blueberries are among the most popular fruits in the world. According to a recent report by la Oficina de Estadísticas y Políticas Agrarias (Odepa), Chile is global market leader of blueberries with a share of 30.9%. The country is followed by the US (23.7%), Canada (22.2%) and Argentina (7.3%).

Last season, over 400 million US dollars’ worth was exported to the US, more than double the amount of four years ago. Looking at these numbers, Chile has decided to look for new markets on which to unload their produce. According to one of the leading managers of the Chilean committee for blueberries, Andrés Armstrong, the search has been going on for a few years now.

“The Chilean Blueberry Committee has been active opening up new markets. Not just in China or Korea, but in the rest of Asia, in Russia, Scandinavia and Europe. We don’t think we have exhausted all our options in Canada and the US either.”

Asia and Europe are relatively new players in the blueberry markets, having increasingly imported the Chilean goods. They still, however, represent only 4% and 16% of Chile’s total export.

Source: SimFruit