Fruit exports in Chile will have a moderate upturn in returns from last season, surpassing U.S. $3B this year.

According to Fedefruta, a fruit growers association, it is expected that exports for this year will reach nearly $3.1B, compared with $2.9B in 2009, an increase of 5%.

But Fedefruta President Antonio Walker told  that the increase on returns won’t make up for the losses growers will suffer because of the falling U.S. dollar.

“If we compare the (620 peso/dollar) average of January of 2009 and the (494 peso/dollar) from September, we have a drop of 21%,” Walker is quoted as saying.

The volume of Chilean fresh fruit shipments this season will reach nearly 2.4B tons, a drop of 2.3% compared with 2009. The drop was mainly due to fewer loads of table grapes, which dropped 6.2%, and avocados, which dropped 39.8%, compared with 2009.

Other fruits that had reduced exports were raspberries (-25%), plums (-21%), pears (-11.3%), peaches (-7.7%), kiwis (-4.3%), and nectarines (-1.8%).

Fruits that will record an increase in 2010 are cherries (66%), blueberries (27.3%), lemons (27%), mandarins (26.4%) oranges (18.1%) and apples (9.1%).

Source: www.freshfruitportal.com