"Chile: "Blueberry production will lead the market"

During the seminar "Prospects for the 2016/2017 global berry season", held at the PMA Fruittrade fair in Chile, it was stressed that the demand for berries continues to increase over the years, but selectively. Felipe Rosas, of Bconsulting Group, an exhibitor at this seminar, said that "while blueberries are becoming more and more technified, for example, raspberries have been displaced by small growers. Blueberries have a growth of 19% and in the case of raspberries we only produce 4 tonnes per hectare, which is the lowest production in the world."

"In the case of strawberries, the price is very high, given that the local production in the United States has been reduced, so there is a good market window. This is a good time to implement strawberry production technologies in Chile, starting with something basic, such as the implementation of crop protection," added the representative.

At the seminar it was confirmed that, in the case of blueberries, the world production has reached 720,000 tonnes. In the previous season (2014-2015), Chile exported 110,000 tonnes. The year 2016 will close with an average 30% drop in the frozen volume compared to last year, although in the case of organic frozen there should be an increase. Also, Argentina started earlier than normal, so it will end sooner, and the same situation has been observed in Peru, so Chile will be left alone for a period of 4 weeks, which gives it an advantage.