Dole Chile

The Chilean arm of global produce giant Dole has reportedly confirmed its position of leadership within the South American nation’s fresh fruit industry, despite a slight dip in its exports for the 2009/10 season.

The Chilean industry shipped some 2.45m tonnes of fruit last year, up 2.3 per cent on the previous season when 2.39m tonnes were exported, according to a report by Chilean publication Estrategia.

Dole Chile, which has for some time ranked Chile’s biggest fresh fruit supplier in volume terms, represented 149,000 tonnes of the total, down 1 per cent on 2008/09.

Italian multinational Unifrutti ranked the second-largest exporter in 2009/10, shipping in the region of 121,000 tonnes, down 2.6 per cent in comparison with the previous season.

David del Curto held onto third position with sendings of 104,000 tonnes – an increase of 1.3 per cent against 2008/09, and just ahead of Copefrut with 98,400 tonnes (up 0.6 per cent).