Chilean Pink Lady apple exports have exceeded 70,000 metric tons (MT), putting them 10,000MT higher than last year's total and above pre-season expectations.

Viveros Requínoa, which administers the brand licenses in Chile, said the 2018 campaign has overall been a positive one.

"We are happy with the results obtained so far with Pink Lady and we estimate that we will have good returns for our growers," said Maria Jesus Lira, the company's head of development.

Chile's main Pink Lady importers are in Europe, which receives around two-thirds of exports. The main importing countries are Germany, the U.K. and France.

Pink Lady's brand manager for South America, Andrés Alamos, said that one challenge this season has been a higher proportion of medium and small-sized fruit. This has made marketing a little more difficult as the programs requiring those sizes are limited, he said.

He added that the campaign began to slow down around mid-August - by which time 70% of the fruit had been sold - as heavy volumes in parts of the EU resulted in oversupply, he explained.

There are now 48 apple exporters in Chile with Pink Lady in their offering, and Lira said that this season there were double the number of inspectors checking the fruit than in previous seasons.

Marketing activities of Pink Lady apples have also been increased in the domestic Chilean market this year.

"We are doing strong promotions, activities and marketing campaigns through social media and the press so that people get to know the variety and in order to position Pink Lady as Chileans' preferred apple," Lira said.