Chile’s table grape exports to rise by 29%

Chile’s Asoex has released its first estimate for table grape exports in the 2021-22 season, with predictions of a 29% increase over last season’s rain-affected campaign. 
Asoex president Ronald Bown Fernandez said:

“We have forecast that Chile will export around 84.6 million standardised boxes of 8.2 kilos. This projection reflects an increase of 14.9% in relation to the 2019-2020 season, and an increase of 29.3% with respect to the 2020-2021 fiscal year, in which, production was impacted by unexpected summer rains. Undoubtedly, this estimate shows a significant growth in shipments and a recovery of Chile’s table grape industry. The higher export volumes are mainly driven by the increase of new varieties by more than 73.5% compared to the 2019-2020 season and by more than 49.1% if compared to shipments in the 2020-2021 period.”

In terms of varieties, shipments of new varieties are expected to reach 35 million boxes, followed by traditional varieties with 32 million boxes, and Red Globe with just over 17 million boxes.