The Fourth Global Cherry Summit is set to take place on April 20, 2023 at the Monticello Conference Center in San Francisco de Mostazal, Chile. The summit brings together over 900 leaders and international business people from at least a dozen countries including key cherry producing regions, along with more than 70 businesses sponsoring and exhibiting. The diverse group of attendees includes exporters, importers, marketers, retailers, researchers, and industry consultants.

The event will provide for an exchange of key information regarding the upcoming cherry season.

"Although there are great opportunities for cherries in the future, our sector will face important challenges in the coming years, both at a production, logistical and commercial level,” says Claudia Soler, executive director of the Cherry Committee. “These are all aspects to be addressed at the Global Cherry Summit 2023 as major leaders of our industry come together.” 

Cherries have been one of the fastest growing fruits in Chile and around the world in the last decade. According to a USDA September 2022 report, world cherry production in 2022-23 was forecast up over 220,000 tons to 4.7 million largely on surging output in Turkey and Chile.

Greater supplies are expected to lift imports slightly to 630,000 tons on higher shipments to the European Union and China.  The expansion in supply and demand for this fruit, especially in the Chinese market, has made it a key part of the strategy of regional producers and exporters.

However, this expansion has been strongly affected by supply chain interruptions and other significant issues in logistics and production. For this reason, the 2023 event has designed a program that will present an analysis of cherry exports from the southern hemisphere to the markets of the United States, the European Union and China and there will be a specialized panel for logistical considerations, to learn to navigate in the new scenario.

Likewise, attendees will be able to access informative talks to exchange pertinent information and focus on what they will face in the following season.

Andrés Fuenzalida, general manager of Copefrut, a 70-year producer and exporter of traditional and organic fresh fruit and one of the five largest fruit companies in Chile, agrees on the value of coming together. "This conference is a meeting point for the leaders and players of the cherry industry in Chile,” he says. “It’s a tremendous opportunity to jointly ensure the strengthening and growth of the business, and thus successfully overcome the great challenges that are projected in the sector.”

The invaluable event will allow attendees to obtain a comprehensive and strategic vision. "The Global Cherry Summit is a timely and necessary happening, which brings together all the cherry players to assess, together, the challenges that this wonderful industry has ahead," says Cristián Tagle, president of the ASOEX Cherries Committee and Commercial Manager of Agrícola San Francisco Lo Garcés.