112 million boxes: Chilean cherry aims at a new record

The Chilean cherry industry continues to position itself in the global market. In China, it has consolidated its position as the main supplier season after season. However, the national industry of this fruit faces significant challenges as it prepares for the 2024-25 season, which promises to set another record.

Early estimates for the 2024-25 season predict around 112 million boxes exported, but this projection brings several challenges that the industry must overcome to fully take advantage of this positive scenario.

During a breakfast organized by the IFPA, sector members discussed this issue and shared some projections. Francisco Labarca, partner and executive director of South Port Shipping, indicated that this year’s forecasts seem “quite certain, because there have been the cold hours that were missing last season, so there could be even more than 112 million boxes.”

Although there are still no official estimates from the Chilean Cherry Committee, South Port Shipping has made projections to prepare for the season, based on experiences from previous periods.

"Based on the estimates, there will be significant differences in the first weeks of this season compared to the last,” Labarca stated. “This is good news for shipping companies, because it means that between week 46 and week 3 there will be about 10,000 containers more of cherries, but they are very well distributed over time.”

In this regard, he commented that during the season’s peak, it is estimated that 5,600 containers will be moved per week, which, while a very high figure, is not far from the 5,400 containers per week at the peak of the previous season.

“I don’t think this will create extraordinary stress on shipping capacity, as the peaks are quite manageable,” Labarca said. “This is good news, as it means that shipping companies, with the same tonnage (ship capacity), will be able to move much more cargo,” he added.

Challenges to consider

Despite the positive projection in terms of volume and what this means for shipping companies in terms of revenue, Labarca assures that we must be cautious about shipping capacity and phytosanitary management to keep the fruit moving.

“We are facing an impressive transportation demand, but shipping companies have assured us that they have a weekly capacity of 6,500 containers to transport the cherries to China,” Labarca said. Although the transportation offer exists and provides peace of mind to the sector, Labarca expressed concerns about the fruits that must be shipped with cold treatment.

He explained that initially it was estimated that 30% of the transported fruit would need cold treatment, but it is now estimated at about 50%. This is due to the fact that the main production areas, including the processing plants, are under quarantine for the fruit fly.

“If we consider the installed capacity of the plants in the affected areas, we are forced to bring the healthy fruit there for processing, and once the fruit enters these plants, it requires cold treatment,” Labarca explained. In this scenario, he explained, preparing a container for cold treatment, including loading, sensor placement, and review, takes about an hour and a half.

At the peak, 705 containers are expected to be inspected daily, which means 8 hours a day and requires 88 refrigerated workers. The issue is that the suppliers offering this service have on average 15 reefer workers, so the sum is not enough to inspect that number of containers per day,” Labarca explained.

The expert raised this issue as a source of concern, but assured that there is still time to solve it.

Another logistical issue

Labarca told attendees that the packaging plants need to have their own reefers, as both exporters and shipping companies hire the services of reefer companies, but the supply is limited. For this reason, he called for collaboration, stating that “if we look at this individually, it will be impossible to get that number of service providers.”

He added that the time it takes inspectors to move from one plant to another to start the certification process is very inefficient, a process that could be sped up if each plant hired a permanent, fixed reefer. Additionally, with many reefer containers in transit, which according to his estimates can be up to 3,000 at any time during the season, defects must be detected before the container is shipped.

“There is another issue, which is the responsibility of the shipping companies to upload the cold-treated container information to the Chinese online customs system upon arrival,” Labarca said.

“The shipping company must be clear on how the cargo is released, because with these volumes, if a shipping company is slow in the process, it could be a commercial disaster, as we won’t be able to move the fruit.”

As a result, Labarca called for coordination between shipping companies, service providers, and exporters, to agree on an operational protocol that benefits everyone.

Health Challenge

Producers and exporters are facing another challenge this season: outbreaks of fruit flies in production areas.

The situation was explained by Rodrigo Barra, head of the Phytosanitary Regulation and Certification Department of the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG), who indicated that the area of greatest concern for cherry producers is Chimbarongo, as it covers many hectares of production areas.

“At the moment we have six sanitation campaigns: one in Ovalle, two in Valparaiso, two in the metropolitan area, and one in O'Higgins,” said Barra.

SAG is already implementing control measures to lift the quarantine in the affected areas. The extent of the quarantine is due to the measures required by China, which requires a radius of 27.2 kilometers from the location where outbreaks have occurred. The radius, Barra explained, is quite high, so efforts are being made with Chinese authorities to reduce it.

“Most countries with treaties require only 7.2 kilometers for quarantine, including the United States and Japan, but progress has already been made with China, which previously required quarantine for the entire region where the fly was detected,” said Barra.

The problem for producers and exporters is that all fruit produced or packaged in the quarantine area must be transferred with a cold treatment, which, as Labarca explained, adds more work, procedures, and risks to the export process. In Ovalle, where 301 hectares are under quarantine for China and 7 cherry packing plants are located, the campaign is expected to be lifted in November 2024.

The lifting of the campaign depends on completing three life cycles of the fly without detection.

In San Bernardo, the quarantined area is 2,552 hectares, where 17 packing plants are located. The campaign is expected to be lifted in December 2024. And in the most relevant area, Chimbarongo, there are 15,582 hectares of cherries under quarantine and 31 packing plants, where the quarantine is estimated to be lifted in January 2025.

Source: Logistica 360
Image: Emol El Mercurio

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