Chilean cherry exporters look set to be able to send their fruit to South Korea from next season, following a successful public-private mission to the Asian country. 

A release said the mission, led by Chile's Agricultural Minister Carlos Furche, was highly optimistic for achieving market access in 2015 after a lengthy meeting in the Seoul this week with the Korean Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Jun-Won Lee.

The Korean official is said to have raised to possibility of a visit to Chile later on this year in order to accelerate the inspection process to allow Chilean cherry exports into the country.

Furche said the news was a critical development in the process.

"We consider that the Minister [Lee] has taken a step forward in the process with the visit of a technical team to Chile, whose goal will be to reach the next stage in this important process of opening trade barriers," Furche said in a statement released by Chile Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI).

The Chilean Fruit Exporters Association (ASOEX) president Ronald Bown, who was part of the delegation, said the agreement reached for a cherry inspection was a 'breakthrough'.

"The prospects are looking good to start exporting cherries to South Korea from next season. An inspection will be carried out before December, and that will be the end of stage 5," Bown said.

"Stages 6, 7 and 8 will be very quick because they're just administrative, and so we definitely have some degree of optimism."

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