Chilean exporters have reported a highly successful 2000-01 season with record volumes of 1,600,000 tonnes of fruit exported and earnings expected to total some $1.5bn.

The figures were announced at the annual general members' meeting of the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association. At the meeting last week, its president Ronald Bown reportedly called for the availability at short notice of emergency legal defence funds for Chilean exporters from any sector. This follows the experience of grape senders this year accused of dumping product on US markets in 2000. Bown was reported in the Chilean weekly Revista del Campo speaking at his association's annual meeting when he described one of the outstanding points of the year as the 'unjust dumping accusation against Chilean grape exporters'.

Meanwhile, the Chilean Fresh Fruit Association – Europe is about to unveil 'one of the best-researched and most innovative promotions seen in this industry for many years' according to the association's newsletter out this week. More will be revealed in the new year, but the focus of the 2001-02 campaign in Europe will be the final link in the food chain: the consumer. 'Three years into our development strategy for the support and promotion of Chilean fruit in the European market, our industry finds itselfSin a position to promote meaningfully its fruit directly to the consumer,' said the association. 'We have spent three seasons building and establishing awareness within the European Fruit Sector of Chile's status and capabilities as a fruit exporter. This we now feel has been achieved.'

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