Chilean cherry sector launches multi-million dollar advertising campaign in China

SANTIAGO, CHILE, 05 September, 2017 — The Chilean fresh cherry sector, the leading exporter of cherries worldwide, has used the setting of the Asia Fruit Congress in Hong Kong today to announce a US$5million investment in its biggest ever advertising and promotional campaign in China to build on rapidly growing consumption in the country. The announcement follows confirmation that Chile has recently overtaken South East Asia as the single largest provider of fresh fruits to China.

The ambitious campaign was launched by the Chilean Cherry Committee of the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association (ASOEX) at the ‘Celebrating Cherries from Chile’ buffet lunch at Hong Kong’s IKON Seaview restaurant; an event that featured the Republic of Chile´s former President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle.

Attendees where told that Chile’s cherry producers and exporters have invested a total of US$5million in a five month-long promotional drive in China that is aimed at building on Chile’s significant progress in the market.

As of 2016, Chile is now the single largest supplier of fresh fruits to China, having surpassed for the first time in China’s history traditional South East Asian providers including Thailand. Commenting on the achievement, Ronald Bown, Chairman of the Board of ASOEX, said: “Chile is now the largest supplier of fresh fruits to China having overtaken Thailand last season. This is a very significant accomplishment because historically the vast majority of the fruit imported by China has been sourced from South East Asia.

Already the world’s biggest exporter of fresh cherries, Chile is also the largest supplier of the fruit to China, exporting some 100,000 tones of cherries to the world in the 2016 season. With the launch of the promotional campaign, Christian Tagle, President of the Chilean Cherry Committee, said Chilean producers were targeting a growth in cherry exports to 120,000 tons by 2020, driven by greater production in the country.

According to former President Eduardo Frei Ruiz Tagle,"The campaign in China will mark an historic achievement, as this will be the largest generic promotional campaign ever undertaken by Chile in China,"he said. "This is a joint effort between the public and private sector", he added.

Some 400 guests attended the ‘Celebrating Cherries from Chile’ event, which was held at the IKON Seaview restaurant at the AsiaWorld-Expo exhibition centre. Along with former President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, attendees included ProChile International Director Alejandro Buvinic, ASOEX Chairman of the Board, Ronald Bown Fernández and Christian Tagle, President of the Chilean Cherry Committee.