Fedefruta president Victor Catán warns that the early arrival of the crop will impact grower returns
An earlier-than-expected start to the harvest prevented Chilean cherry exporters from hitting the profitable Chinese New Year window this season. A preliminary analysis of the 2025/26 season by Frutas de Chile’s Cherry Committee reports that weather conditions brought the harvest forward by about 10 days, concentrating a larger volume of shipments in the first weeks of the campaign. At the same time, a later Chinese New Year caused demand to peak later.
Shipments reached 113.8mn cartons, slightly above the initial projection of 110mn cartons, according to the committee. Final consolidated results will be published at the official close of the season in early March. The group did not publish revenue data.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Víctor Catán, president of the producers’ association Fedefruta said: “With the Lunar New Year falling so late, the fruit arrived early and can’t be stored for very long”. He added that different strategies for sorting and packing the fruit also impacted the results.
Catán noted that the industry is “seeing a decline in the purchasing power of Chinese consumers, and that naturally affects cherry purchases”.
In the 2024/25 season, a record cherry harvest flooded the Chinese market before the holiday, putting pressure on prices and increasing scrutiny of quality.
According to the cherry committee’s preliminary assessment, China remained the top destination for 2025/26, although its share of exports decreased from 92 per cent in the previous season to 87 per cent. The committee said this demonstrated the progress Chile has made in its diversification strategy toward other markets, including the US.
“The final product was generally good, in good condition, and with good flavour. This was because growers took into account the recommendations made during the winter and early spring,” Catán explained. “Volumes were in line with projections, but that also reflects the fact that some fruit was packed that, in my opinion, shouldn’t have been packed because it wasn’t commercially appealing.”
Catán noted that some producers would see good returns, some acceptable returns, and others would see their results significantly affected, “due to the quality of the fruit, the timing of its arrival, and the marketing strategies adopted”.
The industry is now entering an “adjustment period,” the committee said, emphasizing that coordination and joint efforts will be essential to maintaining competitiveness.
According to Catán, projections for the upcoming season are a major concern, as a significant number of new orchards are expected to come into production provided growing conditions are favourable.
“We already know that the market has a ceiling, so we need to clearly define the marketing strategies to adopt and the markets we should target,” he said.
