Chile: "Demand for pomegranates continues to grow"

Chile's pomegranate campaign is halfway through, even though, as a result of the low temperatures, the harvest was delayed by more than 10 days. "The spring and summer started with low temperatures, which caused a drop in the production and a delay in the harvest. This also had an impact on sizes, which resulted in a product of a smaller calibre than usual," states Pedro Bejares, of Agrícola San Clemente.

 

Most Chilean pomegranates are intended for the United States, since it is the most appropriate market for the fruit sizes and colour typical of this origin. Furthermore, in markets like Europe, competition is greater and they have other requirements when it comes to calibres, which makes pomegranates from other sources more suitable. "Demand has been very high, especially in early April, when we had many requests, although in the first half of May the situation started to normalise due to increased supply. Chile enters the market when there is no fruit from other countries, so we face no direct competition," assures Bejares.

It is also worth noting that there has been a decline in prices compared with last year. We have to take into account that, in the previous season, there was a significant drop in volume, so there was a low supply in a demanding market, which pushed prices up. "Fortunately, the price depends entirely on demand, and demand has been growing every year. Pomegranates have become renowned in recent years for their properties as a superfruit, and while it is not an easy fruit to consume, the consumers have been getting used to it. We believe it is a fruit with a good future," concludes the spokesperson of Agrícola San Clemente.