Chile aims to double exports in next decade

Chile aims to double its agricultural and livestock exports in the next 10 years to $35 billion per…

Chile aims to double its agricultural and livestock exports in the next 10 years to $35 billion per year, as it increases investments in dams and improves access to overseas markets.

Chile, the world's top exporter of fresh grapes and blueberries, posted record exports of food, including fruit, livestock, wine and salmon, of just over $16 billion last year. That was about three times what it shipped abroad 10 years ago.

The country also is a key exporter of cherries and walnuts.

"Demand for food has no place to go but grow because the (global) population continues to expand ... it is realistic and possible over the next 10 years to put as our target a doubling of the value of exports between $30 billion and $35 billion." said Agriculture Minister Carlos Furche. He added that the value of agricultural exports could reach $18 billion next year and be as high as $20 billion by the end of this decade.

Those exports, however, are forecast to fall by between 5% and 8% this year.

To achieve its agricultural export goals, Chile is investing up to $250 million annually to build 10 new dams and repair others, a move made urgent by reduced rainfall in its main farming belt in the central part of the country.

Irrigation of about half the country's 1.2 million hectares of agricultural land could be improved by expanding new technologies that could double the efficiency of water usage.

Chile is a signatory to the ambitious 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, which officials says should boost food exports.

Citrus exporters will get a better foothold in Japan said Furche.