Abstract

Chile has been able to position itself as a fruit grower and exporter of renown quality. The great diversity of climates, a consequence of its 4.270 km long (latitude 18 to 57⁰S), narrow band of territory, makes it possible to grow a wide range of fruits (208.000 hectares planted), many of which are in season for several months at a time. This advantage, enhanced by the introduction of new cultivars and supported by advanced production and postharvest technologies, guarantees steady continuity of supply for the great part of the year.

The country is now known, in the international market place, as an exporter of fresh fruits: table grapes (482.000 tons), apples (530.000 tons), stone fruits (177.000 tons), pears (158.000 tons), kiwifruit (91.000 tons), avocados (33.000 tons), lemons (14.000 tons) and other 40 species (24.000 tons), having reached the highest production levels in Latin America. The nut production is still low, mainly almonds and chestnuts.

INTRODUCTION

The impressive growth and development reached by the fruit growing industry dedicated to the export market, specially during the last decade, has made this sector of the Chilean agriculture an important contributor to the development of the national economy.

This growth is based on the favorable comparative advantages of this activity, among them, the notably off-season production with respect to the main consumer markets of the northern hemisphere, favorable climatic and soil conditions, labor availability under an economic environment that stimulates enterprising export activities, and excellent phytosanitary conditions that characterize the fruit production area. What is more, the political and economic framework favors freedom of individual initiative and provides ample incentive to the export sector, thereby encouraging private enterprise and stimulating its search for income-producing agricultural activities. These efforts and stimulating conditions have allowed the private sector to invest aggressively in profitable agricultural projects.

An important number of pioneer investments were oriented to growing fruit for export, increasing the land dedicated to fruit farming and developing a marketing to support the export efforts. As a result, this activity became an important generator of hard currency as well as a significant number of productive jobs and secondary activities directly or indirectly related to the export activity.

The export efforts of the fruit farming industry were efficiently planned to place Chilean fruit in the international markets where it has now attained a high degree of competitiveness, associated with good quality.

Chile extends from a latitude of 18 to 57 degrees South in South AmericaÕs temperate zone, with a length of 4,270 km, an area of 75,662,600 hectares and a population of 14,000,000 inhabitants. Only 5,1 % of its land it is dedicated to agriculture and 20.7 % to forestry (Table 1).

The fruit-producing zone that serves the exporting industry is geographically isolated, bounded to the north by the Atacama Desert (the driest desert in the world), to the east by the Andes Mountains, by the Pacific Ocean to the west and the frozen expanse of the Antarctic to the south. This geographical situation makes Chile virtually an island, keeping at bay numerous blights and diseases that have hampered other countries ' attempts to develop agricultural production for exports. This 'insular ' position also means that Chile is able to keep the use of agrochemicals to a rational minimum, thereby complying with all requirements on the proper use of such products in the countries to which we export.

Chile's great diversity of climates, a consequence of its long, narrow band of territory, makes its possible to grow a wide range of fruit and vegetables, many of which are in season for several months at a time. This advantage, enhanced by the introduction of new cultivars and supported by advance production and postharvest technologies, guarantees steady continuity of supply for the greater part of the year.

This sector of agriculture generates about US$1,392 million FOB of foreing exchange earnings. Table 2, shows a summary of the main point of the Chilean fruit industry.

TABLE 2. SUMMARY OF THE FRESH FRUIT INDUSTRY IN CHILE.
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• Planted area (ha) 208,000
• Fresh fruit exports (metric tons) 1,509
• Returns (million US$ FOB) 1,392
• Growers > 7,000
• Direct workforce involved (%) 4.4
• Companies: Exports 423
• Imports >800
• Countries of destination >70
• Species exported >70
• Number of vessels per year 959
• Coldstore rooms 385
• Packinghouses 100
• Field level packings >1,000

Source: Chilean Export Association (ASOEX). 1999.

Development of land utilization by fruit orchards.
According to official statistics, there were 162,000 hectares of land dedicated to industrial fruit growing in 1988, reaching 208,025 hectares in 1998. The land planted to fruit are located mainly in the northern and central parts of Chile.

The traditional species (main species) represents 92% of the total surface utilization in 1998. Chile offers an extensive range of species, as shown in Table 3 and 4. The list of products is headed by table grapes (21.3%), apples (18.1%), avocados (8.8%), plums (6.3%), pears (5.9%), peaches (5.7%) and kiwifruit (3.8%), but also includes many other products. Chile is also a well-known wine producer, with 75,388 hectares (Table 5).

The greatest cultivation expansion, during the last period, corresponds to avocados and plum trees. An unprecedented growth corresponds to the kiwifruit species that, according to official statistics, occupied around 10 hectares in 1980, reaching 12,260 hectares in 1990 and decreasing to 7,817 hectares during 1998.

During the last decade, fruit growers made product mix changes to comply with international market requirements. These included not only growing those cultivars with the greatest market acceptance, but also changing the phytosanitary conditions of the fruit, its quality, grading, packaging standards and postharvest potential.

Thus, during the fruit farming expansion, a significant increase of cultivars grown was observed. It is interesting to note that some of the changes in the fruit cultivars were also intended to extend the export season. This occurred because some of the cultivars that were introduced had either earlier or later harvest than were traditionally grown before. Thus, fruit growers could start supplying international markets sooner and continue supplying them later than was possible when only traditional cultivars were exported.

Source: ODEPA. Chilean Ministry of Agriculture.

Source: ODEPA. Chilean Ministry of Agriculture.

Source: ODEPA. Chilean Ministry of Agriculture.

Overall, two prominent aspects of Chile's fruit exports stand out. One concerns the growth in total volume ands currency earnings, which rose from 261,000 tons for a value of US$168 million in the early 1980's to 1,509,000 tons (Table 6), equivalent to 150 million boxes, with an FOB value of US$1,392 million in 1999 (Table 7). Table grapes are the country's foremost fruit product, representing some 43% of the total export earnings, followed by apples (19.3%), avocados (6.3%), pears (6.0%), plums (5.7%) and kiwifruits (5.2%).

Source: FEDEFRUTA (Chilean Fruit Grower Federation).

Source: FEDEFRUTA (Chilean Fruit Grower Federation).

The second aspect, brought out in Tables 6 and 7, concerns Chile's widening range of products and foreign markets. The number of products increased from 15 in the early 1980's to more than 70 in the most recent harvest season. Fresh fruit represents 80.4% of the total fruit exports (Table 8).

Source: Department of Prices and Values. Central Bank of Chile.

Tables 9 through 15 show the main fruit cultivars grown in Chile. Tables 16 and 17 show the main cultivars of almonds and walnuts.

Table 18 shows the distance from Chile to the main ports in the world, and Table 19 that the main markets for our products are the United States and Europe. These two areas accounted for about 63% of all exports in our sector for the 1999/2000 season, a percentage which, we believe, should gradually change as the Latin American, Middle Eastern and in particular Pacific Rim markets acquire larger shares.

Each of our products bears the hallmarks of our activity, i.e. trade and business integrity, creative solutions to overcoming obstacles to trade, perseverance in achieving the removal of barriers to entry in some markets, a serious approach to phytosanitary regulations and individual countries' rules on the use of agrochemicals, a commitment to product excellence, and the solidarity of producer-exporter relations abroad.

Final Comments

• Chile is a great fruit producer and exporter in the world.
• Good Agricultural Practices (GAP's) is our most relevant challenge.
• We began to develop new cultivars.
• We are constantly testing and developing new postharvest techniques in order to reach distant and new markets.
• We are in the process of consolidating programs of Integrated Fruit Production and Fruit Plant Certification.

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