Chile is going through the final approval stages of protocols allowing it to export to China with the arrival later this month of two inspectors from the superpower.

Chile Blueberry Committee manager Andrés Armstrong, told www.freshfruitportal.com they were waiting for an exact date to be confirmed and explained the inspectors would be checking that the first fruit shipments complied with China's requirements.The inspections by China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIC) fulfill the final part of the protocol signed last June, after three years of negotiations.

Following the visit, Chilean exporters will have the go-ahead to start exporting directly to China.

China's 1,400 million inhabitants have an increasingly greater purchasing power making it an attractive market.

The Chilean Blueberry Committee said exporting to the country was one of its major objectives in a bid to diversify.

Blueberry consumption has risen over the last few years following greater awareness of the fruit's high anti-oxidant levels.

The U.S. is Chile's largest export destination with 69,600 metric tons (MT) shipped in 2010-11.

Related Article: China opens up for Chilean blueberries

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