The Chinese demand for cherries from Chile continues despite the expected volume that has just been adjusted downwards. María Jose García, commercial manager of the Chilean based office of China's Joy Wing Mau Group (JWM), says their volumes are not affected: "In general the season had a good but slower start than what we thought, but in general not so much for us. Early demand is huge in China. We saw that every single whole box in the market was sold immediately."
The Chilean exporters association Asoex revised the crop down 'a little bit' from 130 to 120 MM cases. "It is mainly the Regina variety that is down in volume," notes Jose García.
The hope was that the new cherry varieties that are bearing more fruit would contribute to meet the big demand in China and the rest of Asia. "As an industry the new varieties have not been as good as expected. Now that Santina is available it all looks quite nice again," states Jose García.
She says the 'shortage' of the new estimation is very little compared to the overall volume, it therefore should not affect prices. "Actually the 'shortage' of the new estimation is very little so that should not affect the prices, but what can be affected is the volume that will arrive after the Chinese new year that will be lower."
Given the big interest and demand for cherries in China, Jose García says the big price differentiator is the quality of the cherries upon arrival. "We see a customer that knows more about quality, conditions and variety and that any condition of arrival issue affect the sales and the price. There is a big difference in prices according to the real arrival in terms of condition," explains Jose García.
She says given the big volumes China has also shifted the big Chilean cherry arrivals to different ports. "What China has been doing is to reinforce the use of other ports like Tianjin and Da Chan Bay."
JWM import and distribute over 2 000 containers of fruit from South America to China and the rest of Asia. Jose García together with her colleague Claudio Salas and their team represent the JWM Group from their base in Santiago, Chile. This team does all the JWM procurement for China and Asia from Latin America.
Not only are they focused on China, with fruit being sent from South America to other growing Asian markets too. "We are sending fruit to other markets mainly Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. All those markets are growing in terms of demand," concludes Jose García.
For more information:
María Jose García
Joy Wing Mau Chile
Tel: +56 9 8902 7787
Email: [email protected]