Chilean cherry shipments look set to top 100,000 metric tons (MT) for the first time ever during the 2014/15 season, in spite of rainfall last year damaging production in some parts of the country. 

The Chilean Fruit Exporters Association (ASOEX) and the Chilean Cherry Committee said that as of week 5, more than 99,000MT of fruit had been exported, representing a 45% year-on-year increase.

Asia is by far the South American country's biggest market, receiving 82.7% of shipping volumes, of which 96% went to China and Hong Kong.

The U.S. is the next biggest market with 8.6%, followed by Latin America (4.7%), Europe (3.7%).

"We are happy with this new achievement for the Chilean fruit export industry, which demonstrates the great work that cherry producers and exporters have been doing to reach these volumes while also maintaining high quality and safety standards," ASOEX president Ronald Bown said in a release.

Chilean Cherry Committee president Cristian Tagle said the season had been a challenging one due to the large volumes and the heavy rainfall experienced in December.

"[The climatic conditions] made us as an industry put a lot of effort into maintaining the quality so as to guarantee the consistency of arrivals," Tagle said.

Despite the 'significantly' lower prices Chilean cherries were fetching in China this season - as reported by consultancy company Decofrut - Tagle said a good U.S. dollar exchange rate had supported the sector.

"The dollar has gone up quite a lot and that has helped us. The prices in China have been a bit lower, but they generally continue to be better than other markets," he said.

He added there were many containers of cherries still to be sold in China, and said the industry was expecting prices to improve in the run up to Chinese New Year on Feb 19.

Tagle also predicted Chile's total cherry export volumes would likely top 100,000MT, as the season was about 95% of the way through and fruit was still being shipped from the south of the country.

"The growth our industry has been remarkable, and has included the development of new packing lines, new farms, and new varieties. All of this demonstrates the sector's courage and commitment," he said.

"Today, estimates put total cherry production land at about 18,000 hectares, and if we look back to 2008, we only had 13,000 hectares. So we have seen a 40% increase, and we believe that within four or five years' time we will be at 150,000MT of cherries.

"This poses a great challenge to us in terms of placing fruit in the different markets, and that is what we're working on today."

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