With growing favourable trade agreements between countries world over, Chile and India are key sectors that are now coming together to stimulate exports.
Embassy of Chile in India
The arrival of Jorge Loyola, Trade Commissioner, ProChile, in the Embassy of Chile in India, marks a significant step in this strategic push. With just two months into the country, Loyola has already embarked on a series of initiatives under the ‘Flavours of Chile’ campaign, aimed at expanding the presence of Chilean fruits in the Indian market. This planned visit has been key in strengthening ties and supporting economic growth for both countries.
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1. How does Chile view India as a potential market for its fruit exports? Additionally, can you provide insights into the current revenue generated from fruit exports to India and the strategies in place to increase this figure in the coming years?
Countries have different strategies for trade, investments, exports and promotions. Some countries have an export promotion agency which helps them in their local export to other countries and thereby enter new markets. On the other hand there are agencies which encourage foreign direct investment in the country. I work with the first type and we are sector agnostic –which means we work with different sectors alongside Chile. We connect the demand and supply. We have regional officers in each part of the country and we screen the supply; and then on the other side we have commercial officers who connect with potential buyers and importers, and like-minded Chilean exporters. A big part of our export is the agri fruit- which is a big market. The main reasons for this is that in the agri fruit sector we are working with 3 main sectors- first is fresh fruit, second is dry fruit- which is mainly walnut. (Walnut is like our ambassador here). I’d like to add that the first two are consolidated. The 3rd sector is seafood & we are trying to tap into the seafood market. Within this the 2 main products are the Chilean Salmon and mussels. We seek for alliances within the market to position the product.
This is one part of the equation- the other part of the equation is seeking services. This goes hand in hand with the delegation that we are bringing.
Chile is the innovation hub for Latin America and we are trying to find ways to collaborate with India. We would like to connect companies from India to go into Latin America using Chile as a platform.
Some of our strategies to increase exports to India- well, sitting here is part of the strategy! The biggest barrier is distance and especially when it comes to logistics, distance is a challenge. We have identified that the one way to mitigate this distance is through bringing in the supply & demand. To make them sit under the same roof – this is what will happen when we meet with the FSSAI, the Indian regulator. This will help in decreasing the knowledge gap between the Chilean exporters and the Indian importers.
India is a country based on relationships and we need to embrace that as Chileans and we have to come here and build relationships and that is one of the main premises of the Chilean summit. It is the first of its kind to be held here- the first ever important event that Chile has ever held here. It is a stepping stone to pave the way to closer investment relations.
My activities for the future (strategy planning phase) – one is we do an express- exports events held in Chile where we invite foreign importers to Chile for them to learn how we do things here and to enforce relations. We have plans to participate in fairs. And third we partner up with retailers in order for Chilean products to gain recognition and to build the brand. People should be able to tell by just seeing and eating that it’s a Chilean product. Our social media campaigns should also be on point. Chilean 2023 exports to India: 125 million as compared to 2022 increased by 95%. The reason is the social media campaign for our dry fruits- especially Chilean nuts.
2. How has Chile's fruit export market diversified over the past decade, and which emerging markets have shown the most significant growth in demand for Chilean fruit?
Very interesting question. We are diversifying the products that we export for example: in terms of fresh fruit- try to bring more diversity like frozen or fresh fruits. In terms of diversification we started exporting products of other value- for example in 2023copper export accounted only 58% of the market. 42% was non copper and non-lithium goods & services. And in 2013 copper was 90%. Hence the gap is now filled by the agri-food business. All these numbers are only in the case of India. You export more of one thing against the others. It measures the diversification and now we are increasing dry fruits and others. Copper was the main export and now it’s diversified to fruits and dry fruits. The reason being: our exporters are now not just looking at nearby markets they have started looking at faraway countries to tap into other markets.
To summarize we are diversifying our export markets. And secondly and specifically we are diversifying that export market to India. From just exporting copper as we now have more to offer we are now exporting fresh fruits and dry fruits- kiwis, apples, blueberries, cherries, nuts, prunes. We hope to also bring creative industries 10 years from now.
3. What strategies are being implemented to expand Chile's fruit export markets further, and how do you identify and target new potential markets?
I’d like to highlight here that last year the president of The Chile Indian council had his 3rd visit to India in the same year- which shows that there is an appetite here. The magnitude of this event is basically because last year there was a delegation which came as well- both public and private sectors and that is the core of the answer to this question. Together we are stronger, so we are tying up with the private sector to reach out to new markets.
We have offices in Delhi and Mumbai. We want to tell the Indian private sector to use us- let’s leverage the funds, let’s team up together, we have offices, let’s amplify it. We would love to grow here and that is one of the key reasons to be here. We are aware that India is not limited to Delhi & Mumbai, there are many tier 2 and 3 cities which are huge. There are interesting cities like Pune and winery business like the Sula brand which is worth seeing. Mumbai has been popular cos of Bollywood but so is Chennai as a city and that is also booming. I want to connect these cities with Chile.
4. Could you provide an overview of the revenue generated from fruit exports in recent years, and how this contributes to Chile's overall economy?
Of the $556 million of non-copper & non lithium exports in 2023, about 30% that’s approximately ($170 million) was accounted for by foods such as nuts, fresh kiwis, fresh apples, fresh cherries, fresh pears, fresh grapes, blueberries (fresh & frozen), dried plums, salmon, trout & wines.
Trade with India according to ProChile figures amounted to $2668 million in 2023 with an average growth of 5% from 2018.
30% of non-copper & non lithium exports to India are foodstuffs, where nuts (Where Chile is the largest leading exporter in the market) fresh fruits and wherever there are opportunities in salmon dried & dehydrated fruits, wines among others stand out.
5. What role does technological innovation play in maintaining Chile's competitive edge in the global fruit market, and can you share any recent advancements or projects in this area?
I love Chile- we are very diverse. However, climate change has affected us greatly. The state policy- which means it doesn’t refer to just one part- it’s the whole state, is to increase the awareness of climate change & sustainability in Chile. This has to do with the optimal usage of water. Many of the technologies now work around the principal of the optimum usage of water. Soil is getting drier and we want to use technologies for optimal water usage and to bring more precision into agriculture. From getting information on the crops- we are trying to digitalize the industry and bring in data from the soil into the cloud- and then use that date to predict how much water is going to be needed on the crops, how many & which fertilizers do we need to use etc.- we are working on getting that technology onboard. We are also planning to expand in agriculture which is a challenge.
I understand the supply and products of my country. But the challenge remains to see what is out there and bring that knowledge to my companies so that they can customize and meet the demands. Another example is the Pacific salmon for example cos of its colour and look and feel it is predominantly used for sushi.- (Chile, Norway & Scotland are at the top of Salmon exporters) one such development on the pacific salmon example is a company called bioled which uses different lights which focuses on the efficiency in the growing phase of salmons.
Another development is that we use AI to differentiate between good and bad fish- we don’t need to use workers. This app or program can efficiently help in the selection process. This makes the industry more agile.
One of the main obstacles we faced is the culture. India is a relational country. The way in which we communicate was also a challenge- As Chileans we are very direct and we need to adjust to other markets. India is very relational country. Second partial trade agreement which we are working on. The idea of this summit was to prepare our presidential visit he is very eager- most likely & hopefully early next year.
6. What opportunities do you see for the future of Chile's fruit export industry, particularly in increasing revenue and market share globally?
The middle class population in India equals to the entire population of the United States! That segment of the market is eager- in 2 ways. That is firstly learning from new countries and two they are able to pay more for premium products.
Tariff is a challenge and we need quality & respect by certificates. This basically means Certificate of Quality for our goods. We would like to bring that assurance into the market.
Where do I see myself in the next 2 years- this is my first interview as the commissioner. If I am to be honest, I would like to look at the Indian classes and clusters and tap into new cities and see the opportunities and identify those. I’d like to work on the diversification & digitalization. My predecessors did an amazing job of bringing fruits and dry fruits in the market. I want to be the one who brings technology and innovation and I want to be one who builds bridges between India and Chile.
I want to add one last thing- this first ever Chile summit in India & this raises the importance of India for us. We also want to move forward in diversifying our ties with India for example in the creative industries space we are looking for audio- visual productions to use chile as a location and to promote collaboration in areas such as co filming.
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