Chile's apple export volumes have made up a lot of ground lost last year, but the opposite is true for the country's pear shipments. 

Apple exports from the South American country from January through August rose 21% year-on-year to 673,219 metric tons (MT), according to the Office of Agricultural Research and Policy (ODEPA).

The previous season had seen volumes decline by two more percentage points from 721,565MT.

To the contrary, Chilean pear exports fell by 11% year-on-year over the period to 117,368MT, but had risen by 19% in 2015 from 110,980MT.

Looking specifically at destination markets, apple exports to the U.S. rose by 35% year-on-year to 104,935MT, and volumes to Brazil nearly tripled at 59,347MT.

There were also strong gains for Taiwan and Saudi Arabia, which received 28% and 17% more than last year respectively.

Colombia was one of the few markets to see a decline in volumes, with shipments dropping 4% to 56,442MT.

Chile's apple markets were relatively diverse, with the U.S. receiving a 16% share, but no other market receiving more than 10%.

As pears, the U.S. and the Netherlands were the two countries that saw the biggest year-on-year declines.

Shipments to the U.S. fell 29% to 12,722MT over the period, while volumes to the Netherlands dropped 21% to 21,065MT.

Pear exports to Italy and Ecuador were also down 17% and 11% respectively.

Chile's pear markets are far less diverse than for apples, with 61% of total exports sent to the Netherlands, Colombia, Italy and the U.S.

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