According to the Cherry Committee of the Fruit Exporters Association of Chile (Asoex), the Chilean cherry export supply for the 2015-2016 season will decrease by 27.7% when compared to the previous season.
After analyzing the effects of the rains and spring frosts in the months of September, October and November, the Committee, which accounts for 84% of the cherry export volume nationwide, estimated that the country would export an average volume of 74,501 tons of cherries.
So far, Chile has exported 13,222 tons of fresh cherries to different target market, a significant loss of production when compared to the 42,620 tons exported in the previous season.
The President of Asoex, Ronald Bown, said that "this has been a strong blow to cherry producers, especially small and medium ones, which have lost much of their effort."
In turn, the chairman of the Cherry Committee, Cristian Tagle, stated he was pessimistic and that, "although the values are technically determined, it is possible that the losses at the end of the season will be somewhat higher considering that there are areas that lost virtually all the production, or percentages above 70%."
