In this installment of the ‘Agronometrics In Charts’ series, Sarah Ilyas studies the state of the 

Chilean cherry season. Each week the series looks at a different horticultural commodity, focusing on a specific origin or topic visualizing the market factors that are driving change.

Chile is the world’s leading exporter of cherries, accounting for 41.6% of the global market. Data released by ASOEX show that in the 2021/22 season, Chile exported a total of 356,348 metric tons of cherries. A new report published by the Rabobank estimates that exports from Chile in the 2022/2023 season will continue to increase. However, all cherry producers in the Southern Hemisphere will face similar challenges such as increasing competition, declining prices and inflated production costs.

U.S. imports from Chile showed an uptick of 131 percent YOY, with record volumes in January and February 2022, according to the report. According to ASOEX Cherries Committee’s most recent estimate for the 2022-2023 season, Chile will reach 446,769 tons in exports, reflecting a 25 percent increase compared to the previous season. Claudia Soler, manager of the committee indicated that exports are expected to continue until week 7 of 2023. She further added that, during the past season, Chile exported 356,348 tons of cherries.

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. (Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. (Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

Cristián Tagle, president of ASOEX’s Cherry Committee, noted that this year’s crop is expected to be of above par quality owing to conducive weather conditions and highlighted the efforts underway to overcome delays and port congestion. According to Tagle, ASOEX’s strong promotional programs will positively impact export volumes to the United States.

“The Committee has been thoroughly preparing for this season and continuing to improve the quality and safety of our shipments. We have observed a slight rebound in the performance of the logistics chain, which we hope will be reflected in better conditions and confidence in our cherries across the markets,” says Tagle. 

Demand for Chilean cherries is soaring in the US. This past 22-23 season, shipments to the U.S. increased by almost 90% year-on-year. In 2020, 7,293 tons were shipped. In 2021, this number rose to 13,877 with approximately  3 million boxes.

“The U.S. market has a consumption potential of 24 to 25 million boxes of cherries, but today we send them 3 million. Here we have to do a gigantic job. If we look at Chile’s production projections, 120-130 million boxes to take out 20, is to take a stripe off the zebra, but we still have a tremendous challenge in China,” says Manuel Alcaíno, president of Decofrut.

In our ‘In Charts’ series, we work to tell some of the stories that are moving the industry. Feel free to take a look at the other articles by clicking here.

All pricing for domestic US produce represents the spot market at Shipping Point (i.e. packing house/climate controlled warehouse, etc.). For imported fruit, the pricing data represents the spot market at Port of Entry.

You can keep track of the markets daily through Agronometrics, a data visualization tool built to help the industry make sense of the huge amounts of data that professionals need to access to make informed decisions. If you found the information and the charts from this article useful, feel free to visit us at www.agronometrics.com where you can easily access these same graphs, or explore the other 21 commodities we currently track.