At the Global Grape Convention 2024, the main players in the table grape industry of Chile and Peru met to evaluate the current state of the business with a long-term perspective.
In a panel discussion with various industry representatives, several aspects were considered regarding the industry's growth plans for the next few years.
The president of the Peruvian Association of Table Grape Producers (Provid), Manuel Yzaga, referred to the social role of the table grape industry, indicating that “production volumes and markets are nothing if there are no people producing grapes. Our customers are the workers and the retailers who buy grapes.”
He emphasized that they want the workers to be happy in their daily lives: “We have a human approach, we see people who work with us as our customers.”
The president of Frutas de Chile, Iván Marambio, addressed an issue of vital importance for the sector: the role of information.
“Chile and Peru must support each other and have healthy competition, so we must work on market transparency and with the best anticipation (...). We have to play this game for real, if we want to face the increase in volumes that is coming,” he said.
In this sense, Yzaga indicated that his commitment is to do his homework and “try to support and convince those who think differently. We see a powerful future if we do things well together.”
The Peruvian table grape leader was clear in saying that “this business is one of details and today no one is assuming their mistake, which is not solving their own errors.”
For his part, the director of Mexico Table Grapes, Sergio Lugo, spoke about the relevance of knowing the end consumer and what the product itself is. “It is a great opportunity, I think we can all make our contribution to integration.”
Additionally, Yzaga was clear in saying that “we lack communication or confidence to open up information to others. We are all logisticians, I think we need to be open and honest with each other."
Sharing his perspective of the avocado industry, Alvaro Luque, CEO of Avocados From Mexico, said that the path that table grapes are going to have to take is “more complicated” since avocados had no choice in the U.S. as they were required to form an association.
“It also forced Mexico to agree and when they opened the market they said: you have to form an importers' association,” he said.
He highlighted that the Peruvian and Chilean table grape industries are doing it differently as they are doing it voluntarily.
Logistics is one of the most important factors for the table grape supply chain. Regarding this, Ricardo Barckhahn, managing director of Cool Carriers, shared his analysis saying that “we, as a reefer company, can adapt to the trading needs of different products".
“We feel very much part of the fruit logistics chain and for us, the ships must operate fast, ports must be efficient and not overcrowded,” Barckhahn said.
Barckhahn added that teamwork with a transparent flow of information is vital.
Addressing various challenges for the industry, the president of Uvanova, Rafael Rodríguez, referred to the varieties produced in Chile, indicating that “I wish that instead of 150 varieties, we could just have a handful and manage them well”. For Rodríguez, its important to achieve common objectives.
In his opinion, what moves the market, apart from promotions, is beautiful, attractive fruit and a good consumer experience.
For Marambio, the biggest challenge is “to unite as origins, but we have to think that this does not work without money; innovation does not exist without money. To sell more fruit and increase consumption, we need money, because we have to have promotional campaigns."
Thus, the president of Frutas de Chile said “I think that in the short term, we should have a joint promotional event next season, at least between Chile and Peru as a first step and as a result of this convention.”
He added that it is important that the industry does not forget the fundamentals, which is fruit quality, “since today the consumer does not accept something with lower quality.”
In his closing statement, Luque commented: “I wish you all the best, I think you are on the right track and you can make the market grow from the consumer's point of view together with the demand created by marketing, it will work for you.”
Finally, Sergio Lugo closed by saying: “I believe that unity is strength.”
