The Global Cherry Summit, the premier annual event for cherry industry professionals around the world, announced that it will host its second webinar this year.

The virtual event, "The New Challenges of the Cherry Industry" will take place on Thursday, August 26 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EDT, where the challenges that impact the Chilean cherry industry will be analyzed for the upcoming 2021/22 season.

This webinar is organized by Yentzen Group and the ASOEX Cherry Committee. The seminar will discuss recommendations for the sector's future, lessons from the past and new challenges that continue to arise as a result of changes in the market and consumers. The importance of fruit quality and its effect on trade and position in the Chinese and international markets will also be addressed.

The seminar will begin with a presentation from Cristian Tagle, president of the Cherry Committee of Asoex on "The new challenges of the industry". The next session will deal with "The season ahead", in this segment Kurt Huang from Shanghai Oheng will discuss "The Chinese market in 2021/22", while Manuel José Alcaino from Decofrut will talk about "The North American market in 2021/22” and Darren Matschull from JO Sims Ltd will delve into “The European Market in 2021/22”.

Militza Ivelic, founder of Trio Capacita, will lead the presentation on “Parameters that guarantee a good post-harvest”. The meeting will end with a panel discussion that addresses the key scenarios for the cherry industry and that will be made up of Orieta Ramírez, General Manager of Frusan and Mario Edwards General Manager of Agrofruta.

Cristian Tagle said that one of the key themes of the event will be the diversification of the markets.

“The United States and Europe are interesting markets to discuss and the entire industry is making efforts to diversify, however, it is necessary to be clear of the countries' requirements as they are more demanding markets in terms of certification. Diversification also imposes challenges on us," he said.

Tagle commented that “in these markets the Chilean industry has to be reliable and comply with the certifications. It is a challenge and there is no doubt that the industry is going to measure up”.

Regarding the importance of the webinar, Gustavo Yentzen, president of Yentzen Group and moderator of the webinar, stated that “we have experienced a series of unique events and we are still in the middle of the pandemic, which poses distinctive challenges for this sector such as the size that the industry has reached, how the markets have been affected by the pandemic, and why strategic decisions have been made regarding the diversification of the markets. There are a series of components to take into consideration to prepare for the 2021-22 season".

"It will not be a typical season and therefore the more information and conversations we have about what will happen in the next season, the better producers, exporters and marketers will be able to prepare for the season," he said.

Along the same lines, Cristian Tagle emphasized that "it is important that people attend because we have to realize the challenges that lie ahead in this industry."

He added that “this year has been very critical due to what we will face, from water scarcity to the challenges of diversifying the markets. We have to give the space for what the industry needs, we cannot depend on a single market. We are only going to face these challenges if we are unified in what is needed”.

"Challenges and Opportunities after a Complex Season"

The event is preceded by the successful webinar “Challenges and Opportunities after a Complex Season”, which had more than 750 participants who came together to share crucial information on the past and future of the Chilean cherry industry.

Participants highlighted the importance of holding this seminar as an opportunity for the Chilean cherry industry to unite and share information after one of the most challenging seasons in its history.

The 2020/21 campaign was severely affected by an unconfirmed case of Covid-19 detection in imported cherry packaging in China, which was widely shared on social media in January, greatly affecting market conditions just before Chinese New Year, a key sales period.

It should be noted that the Global Cherry Summit in-person event has been postponed until 2022. Due to the global spread of the Delta variant and the extension of Chile’s State of Emergency until the end of September, it is currently impossible to hold in-person events of this kind.

For more information contact Natalia Castillo at ncastillo@yc.cl or events@yentzengroup.cl. To register for the seminar, visit our website https://live.eventtia.com/es/webinarglobalcherrysummit/Inicio/