The latest "Mercado Internacional de Cerezas” ( 2023 International Cherry Market) yearbook released by Chile's IQonsulting Fresh fruit export consulting company shows that in the 2022/23 season, the total number of cherry exports in the southern hemisphere reached 428,000 tons, an increase of 16%. Among them, Chile is still the largest exporter of cherries in the Southern Hemisphere, with a share of 97%.

Chile's "PortalPortuario" website reported that, specifically, in the 2022/23 season, Chile exported 415,000 tons of cherries, that is, 83 million containers (5 kg/box, the same below), an increase of 17% year-on-year, and it is expected that this figure still has room to rise in the next few seasons.

R. de Maule region exported 177,000 tonnes (35.5 million cases) of cherries during the analysis period, an increase of 9%, accounting for 43% of the total exports, ranking first.

In terms of cherry varieties, Lapins, Santina and Regina remain the most exported varieties from Chile, with a combined share of 78%.

In addition, the most important export destination for Chilean cherries is still the Far East market, accounting for 92% of exports, an increase of 16%, followed by the North American market (3%, an increase of 36%).

The yearbook is published under the auspices of the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association (Asoex) and the Federation of Chilean Fruit Producers (Fedefruta). The yearbook also noted that "the great uncertainty in the market made it difficult to predict that the cherry export season would be so successful." On the other hand, "the early days of the Chinese New Year have presented us with huge challenges, including early and centralized harvesting, processing and delivery of fruit, coordinating fast ships, and how to use more ports in China to ensure smooth logistics," he said.

It is worth noting that in the 2022/23 season, the second largest cherry exporter in the Southern Hemisphere is Argentina, which exported 4,749 tons of cherries, that is, 949,000 containers, with a share of 1.1%.

The analysis said that compared with the 2021/22 season, Argentina's cherry exports fell by 13% year-on-year, which was blamed on climate problems such as frost, rain, hail and high temperatures. In addition, this is the second consecutive year that Argentina's cherry exports have shown a year-on-year decline.