Why is Chilean cherry the world's number one

Red in appearance, juicy and sweet in flesh, every year on the eve of the Spring Festival, cherries from Chile always become the most anticipated surprise in the hearts of Chinese people.

Chile is the world's largest exporter of cherries. According to statistics, the export volume of Chilean cherries in the 2022-2023 production season reached 415,315 tons, a significant increase of 17% over the previous quarter. China is the most important export destination for Chilean cherries, with 371,543 tons exported, accounting for 97% of the total exports in Asia.

Advanced planting technology breeds good fruit

Located in the South American continent of Chile, the territory is distributed in the north and south narrow, the west is the vast Pacific and coastal mountains, the east is the Andes mountains, the central valley between the two mountains is the fertile soil for fruit growth, coupled with the appropriate climate and soil conditions, creating the natural beauty of Chilean cherries. At the same time, as a country in the southern hemisphere, the Chilean cherry market season just fills the blank season of fruit in the northern hemisphere, and the peak market has become its natural advantage.

Chile can be described as a model of relying on the mountain, under the excellent natural conditions, Chile did not "sit idle", but actively develop advanced agricultural technology, so that the cherry industry has always maintained a high level of development.

Chile's cherry cultivation is mostly large-scale plantations, row by row of standardized plantations, very conducive to mechanization.

At present, Chile has formed a set of targeted cherry planting and field management technologies, including shading, drip irrigation fertilizer and water integration, mechanized spraying, mechanical defrosting in the central and southern parts of the country, steaming, fumigation, sterilization and insect control. Take sunshade management as an example, above the cherry tree, there is a foldable sunshade, one is horizontal folding, one is longitudinal folding, the operation is very convenient, as long as the twist end can be quickly folded up, for sunshade sun protection, hail prevention is very effective.

Mobile temperature control technology is an innovative method of heat preservation in Chile, in order to prevent the extreme cold weather during the flowering and pollination stage of cherries, farms are equipped with mobile heating equipment, which travels around the orchard day and night.

In addition, in terms of picking and storage, most of the planting bases have sorting packaging plants, cold storage facilities and other facilities to achieve fresh-keeping treatment, maximize the shelf life, and the sugar degree, hardness and appearance of the fruit have strict standards for grading.

Cold chain logistics for export escort

The cherries can cross 20,000 kilometers, reach China in about 35-45 days and still stay fresh, which is inseparable from the strong cold chain logistics preservation technology.

When the cherries are picked, they are transported directly to the processing plant by moisturizing trucks for fresh treatment and packaging. After pre-cooling treatment, automatic screening and batch packaging, and the secret of cherry preservation is hidden in it. During the pre-cooling process, the cherries are soaked in 0 ° C ice water, and the core temperature of the flesh drops to about 4 ° C. In addition, acidic substances will be added to the ice water to disinfect and clean the dirt on the skin.

In the automatic screening process, the conveyor belt first performs rough screening, separating the different sizes of cherries, and then using a computer sorter to complete the automatic screening. It is understood that each screening machine is equipped with eight cameras, which can capture the photos of each cherry, and then quickly classify according to the color and whether there is damage, screen out all defects, cracks, malformation and other unqualified fruits, and even can be classified according to the sweetness.

Throughout the sorting and packing process, the water cooling process is always present to ensure that the core temperature of the cherries is around 0 degrees. At the same time, in order to extend the fresh life of the cherries, the processing plant will also use the method of air-conditioned packaging, that is, the inert gas is injected into the sealing bag to keep fresh.

It is reported that in 2023, Chile also opened a cherry shipping express line, which can transport goods from Chile to China in 22-23 days.

Brand building to enhance efficiency

The Chilean cherry can achieve exports of bright report card has to mention the Chilean fruit producers Federation (FedeFruta) and the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association (ASOEX) in which the role played.

The Federation of Chilean Fruit Producers (Fedefruta) is made up of fruit farmers and fruit producers who elect their representatives through an annual congress. The emergence of the federation has turned the scattered fruit production chain in Chile into a whole, ensuring that the technical standards in the production and planting links are unified and controllable, so as to ensure that the quality of the fruit produced is basically consistent, thus maintaining the overall brand image of Chilean fruit. In addition, the federation also provides training services for fruit farmers in planting techniques to solve difficulties and bottlenecks encountered in the planting process.

At the same time, in order to operate the cherry export project, Chile set up a special Chilean fruit Exporters Association (ASOEX), internal unified receipt of goods, external unified delivery, in order to control production and prices.

In 2011, the Association of Chilean Fruit Exporters (ASOEX) established the brand "Cherries from Chile" to promote the cherries as a uniform brand of origin for Chilean exports, greatly enhancing the market competitiveness and brand image of Chilean cherries.

In addition, in order to help partners in the export market better understand and obtain consistently high quality products, the Chilean Cherry Committee under the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association has published the Quality Guide for Exporting Cherries. The guide covers topics such as cherry specifications, sugar content, hardness, standardized specifications and color naming methods.