More than 160 Chilean growers recently participated in a cherry export workshop held in the city of Curicó, where experts sought to address what brought down average prices last season. 

The head of the Chilean Fruit Growers Federation (Fedefruta) has called on cherry producers to diversify their varieties and aim for fruit with larger sizing, after it was revealed average returns per kilo fell 8% year-on-year in 2016-17.

While returns were actually higher in the final weeks of last year, the average weekly Chilean cherry price between week 45 and week 1 was US$5.16 per kilo, down US$0.42 on the previous campaign.

Cherries with sizing of 22-24mm only notched prices of US$1.23, while prices were much higher for larger fruit such as 28mm+ (US$5.60) and 30mm+ (US$6.63).

"It's not worth sending cherries of small sizes because the returns aren't able to pay for the cost of production. The call we're making at Fedefruta is that you bet on better varieties and larger sizes," said Fedefruta president Luis Schmidt.

David Del Curto technical manager Enrique Urrejola urged growers to "decompress" the cherry season.

"Escape the peaks because the oversupply has effects," Urrejola said.

"This allows you to maintain quality and diversify the orchards. Both in cherries as in apples, we avoid planting orchards of just one variety and move away from the traditional."

Urrejola also expressed his concern about the relative quality of plants that are traded in Chile.

"In Chile we have seen that plants of first, second and third grade are sold, which is very worrying because it doesn't allow growers to have uniform orchards," he said.

"We can observe the opposite experience in Washington, where all the orchards are uniform, allowing for greater profitability per hectare."

David Del Curto sales manager Marcos Echeñique added that in cherries - just as in kiwifruit and apples - the priority needed to be placed on the quality of fruit with greater shelf life on arrival.

Antonio Walker, president of regional Chilean fruit grower association Fruséptima, said differentiation was also needed to gain an edge over the competition in international markets. 

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