The
Chilean Blueberry Committee of the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association
(ASOEX) in Shanghai on Sunday at the Xuhui branch of Westa Cinemas
celebrated the launch of the 2020 Chilean Blueberry Sweet and Healthy
Snack Cinema Series. Serving as a sequel to a highly successful debut
last year, Sunday afternoon’s “Blue Pop” film screening encouraged
moviegoers to eat blueberries as a tasty and healthy snack both in and
out of the home.
This event, which highlighted the health benefits of blueberries, was
organized by the Chilean Blueberry Committee of ASOEX. The Committee is
responsible for the global promotion of the Blueberries from Chile
brand. The event featured remarks from Juan José Vidal Wood, Trade
Commissioner at the Shanghai office of ProChile and Charif Christian
Carvajal, Marketing Director, Europe and Asia for ASOEX. During the
event, audience members snacked on the current season’s exports of fresh
Chilean blueberries, which feature uniformly large, sweet and
crunchy fruit.
“Chile is far from China,” said Juan José Vidal Wood. “It takes
almost 24 hours to fly there by plane. Nevertheless, Chilean blueberries
can now be enjoyed every day in China.”
“Today’s event demonstrates that people can enjoy fresh blueberries
from Chile any place and any time,” said Charif Christian Carvajal.
“They’re not just limited to the home.”
According to Cesar Cortes, Export Manager at Chilean blueberry
exporter Agricultural Land Corporation, the quality of this season’s
Chilean blueberry crop is excellent. Each fruit is large, with deep
color and high sweetness. The company exports 50% of its blueberry
production to China, which demonstrates the importance of the China
market to Chile’s blueberry industry. Agricultural Land Corporation is
confident about the large market potential for blueberries in China and
plans to continue increasing the volume of its exports to China during
coming years.
Chile’s exports of blueberries set a new record in the 2017/18
season, exceeding 145,000 tons (with 110,400 tons of fresh blueberries
and 35,000 tons of frozen blueberries) and establishing Chile as the
world’s leading blueberry exporting nation. It is expected that by the
end of the current season, Chile will have exported 115,000 tons of
fresh blueberries, of which 10% will have been sent to China.
Fresh blueberries from Chile have been a consumer favorite in China
for years, and serve as a perfect gift for friends and relatives during
the Spring Festival holiday celebrating the lunar New Year. In contrast,
Sunday’s Blue Pop cinema promotional event was designed to remind
consumers that blueberries are not just a great gift or holiday treat,
but also a daily fixture of a healthy and abundant life.
The Chilean blueberry season lasts from October to March, running
counter to the northern hemisphere fruit growing season. This means that
consumers in China can enjoy fresh blueberries just in time for the
Spring Festival holiday, as well as using frozen Chilean blueberries
year-round. Aside from running promotions in both online and offline
retail channels, Blueberries from Chile is also promoting Chilean
blueberries at fruit-specialist retail chains and among traders through a
series of events at fruit wholesale markets.
Chilean citrus fruit have recently been granted access to be imported
into China, with mandarins and lemons expected to be on the market in
July. Additionally, Chilean Salmon, lamb, beef, dairy, olive oil and
other products are available or will soon be available on the market in
China. Altogether, Chile hopes to soon export more than 1,500 different
types of food products covering 20 product categories to China. This
means that Chinese consumers will continue to have a more and more
high-quality Chilean products to enjoy during this and coming New
Year celebrations.
Images: ASOEX
See all our English news in one place at producereport.com
