Chile's fruit association Frutas de Chile (formerly ASOEX) recently confirmed the election of Ruy Barbosa as the new president of the Chilean Blueberry Committee.

"It is a great pride and a tremendous challenge to continue as president of the Chilean Blueberry Committee," Barbosa said upon being elected.

"I have been in this business since 2001 and have seen the evolution of this industry. We went from being practically alone in our window to the present, where we have a very tough competition with other countries that have joined later and have been able to take advantage of our experience, doing things a little better."

Barbosa explained that the industry is working to improve competitiveness. However, these changes are “not easy to implement and unfortunately not everyone will be able to cope, which will mean adjustments in our export volumes, which has already been seen in recent seasons, but will recover and increase when the new varieties begin to produce".

Within his administration, Barbosa said he will continue to take advantage of the Chilean blueberry sector’s experience and exporting tradition. Additionally, Barbosa expects to improve the production of traditional varieties, “because we know that they still have a lot of potential to deliver".

For this purpose, Barbosa emphasized, the Committee has compiled and made information available to the members, "so that they can make the best decision regarding what to take out, what to keep, and what new varieties to plant. For this, there is a continuous research work that the members can and should take advantage of".

Regarding the new varieties, Barbosa indicated that it takes more time for them to be tested and enter into production. 

"We have the advantage of producing "high child" varieties, something that few countries in the southern hemisphere can do. This is an advantage we should take advantage of, as fruit of this varietal group is and will always be tastier," he said.

"As president of this committee, I will try to support with maximum dedication the work that Andrés Armstrong and Julia Pinto, the executive director and technical manager, respectively, of our committee, are doing. Together we will look for mechanisms to improve communication and participation of the members so that we can work in a much more coordinated way, with which we hope to transmit the right signals to our customers, volumes, and shipments per week," he concluded.

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