Behind the "Freedom of Cherry": 30 years since luxury fruits entered China

Huge profits in the Chinese market

The entire agricultural structure and industry of Chile have been managed

Even technological upgrades have had a profound impact

"Freedom of Cherries" has become a meme, a new standard by which young people measure their income levels in the past two years. At the beginning of 2021, "Cherry Freedom" was suddenly easy to achieve.

As soon as we stepped into 2021, the news of "cherries price slashing" immediately appeared on Weibo hot search, and the price of Chilean cherries with some luxurious flavors in previous years hit the lowest level in nearly 7 or 8 years. On an e-commerce platform, the original price of 250g of J-grade Chilean cherries was 33. 8 yuan, the discounted price is reduced to 19. 9 yuan.

This is mainly due to the great harvest of fruits in Chile 20,000 kilometers away. Due to the gratifying sales of Chilean cherries in 2019 and 2020, especially in China, a large customer, more than 80% of Chile's cherries have been digested, prompting fruit farmers to significantly expand the planting area of cherries, and the output of cherries in Chile has soared by about 30% this year. At the end of December last year, the latest report of the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association (ASOEX) Cherries Association showed that the initial forecast for the 2020/2021 production season will increase Chilean cherries exports by 38%, of which a large part will be supplied to China. Chile's agriculture minister, Antonio Walker, estimates that about 500,000 tons of cherries will enter the Chinese market. At present, nearly 90% of the cherries in the Chinese market are produced in Chile.

Speaking of the impressive sales performance of Chilean cherries, Chilean Ambassador to China Louis Schmidt naturally closed his mouth, because he is the promoter and witness of Chilean cherries entering the Chinese market. More than 20 years ago, when he came up with the idea of exporting cherries to China, others said he was "stupid", and today, more than 85% of Chilean cherries are exported to China.

The huge profits of the Chinese market have had a profound impact on Chile's entire agricultural structure, industrial management and even technological upgrading, and many fruit farmers have cut down apple trees, kiwi trees and planted cherry trees, and even planted cherry trees in southern Chile due to heavy rain.

"I await future opportunities"

The story also begins in 1991, when Louis Schmidt, who was engaged in the export business, came to Beijing, which had just finished the Asian Games, to sell Chilean red wine and fresh fruit, and after contact with related units, the negotiations ended in failure, mainly because China at that time could not afford to consume Chilean red wine and fruit, and It was difficult for Chinese state-owned companies to cooperate with Schmidt's private company. But Schmidt is still very optimistic about China, which is developing rapidly. He told China News Weekly: "Although there was no cooperation at the time, I always thought that there was a potential [consumer] group in China, and I waited for future opportunities." ”

In 1997, Schmidt was elected president of the Chilean Growers Association, and he again marketed fresh Chilean fruits such as cherries to China. However, at that time, the shipment of goods from Santiago, chile, to Beijing by air, was a 65-hour voyage, which was a big obstacle to the direct export of fruits. However, under the efforts of Schmidt, the two ministries of agriculture signed a cooperation agreement to establish the CIIC demonstration farm in Jixian County, Tianjin in 1999, with the Chinese side providing 370 mu of land and required engineering materials, and the Chilean side providing high-quality seedlings, drip irrigation equipment and planting management technology. "When I saw the first batch of cherries brought from Chile planted in China, I knew I was getting more opportunities and the Chilean cherries would be a huge attraction for Chinese consumers," Schmidt said. ”

In 2005, China and Chile signed a free trade agreement, and Chile became the first Latin American country to sign a free trade agreement with China. Three years later, the two countries signed the Quarantine Protocol on the Export of Chilean Cherries and Plums to China, and Chilean cherries were officially allowed to enter the Chinese market with zero tariffs.

As the first person to sell Chilean cherries to China, in 2010, Schmidt was noticed by Chilean President Pinera, Who recalled, Pinheira said to him: "Luis, you have a lot of experience in China, maybe you can stop doing business, represent our country in China, be our ambassador to China." ”

From 2010 to 2014, during Schmidt's first term as Chilean ambassador to China, he promoted Chilean cherries. When Chilean cherries tested the waters of the Chinese market in 2010, their export volume was close to 500,000 US dollars.

Li Hongxia, international purchasing manager of Laiyang Junjie Food Co., Ltd., said in an interview with China News Weekly that "Laiyang Junjie" began to import Chilean cherries in 2011, and the impression was that there were not many resources in Chile at that time, and there were very few Chinese import companies that purchased from Chile. In the first year, only 3 containers and more than 50 tons of cherries were purchased, but after arriving in China, they were immediately robbed and very popular.

Since his grandfather was a farmer, Schmidt has been playing in the cherry orchard since he was 5 years old, and later served as the president of the National Agricultural Society, which can be said to be a cherry expert. According to him, Chile's terrain is a long line between north and south, in the central valley between the coastal mountains adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the west and the Andes Mountains in the east, is the fertile soil for the growth of fruits such as cherries, the clear snow water after the melting of the snowy mountains is continuous, the sunshine is sufficient and the air is fresh, the temperature difference between day and night is very large, which is conducive to the accumulation of fruit sugar, so the quality of Chilean cherries is extremely high and sweet, and the fruit is highly hard, even after long-distance transportation does not affect the quality and taste. Coupled with the fact that China's cold winter is the hot summer in Chile, it just makes up for the lack of seasonal fruits in China, and it can be said that it is expected to be welcomed by Chinese consumers. "It turns out I wasn't wrong to expect that." Schmidt said.

According to the Chilean Cherry Export Association, in 2018 there were 30 million boxes totaling about 14.5 million boxes. 10,000 tons of cherries exported to the world, and the export volume in 2019 was 22. 890,000 tons, exports of nearly 1.2 billion US dollars, of the total export volume of 89. 1% is exported to Asian markets, and China is the most important of them, accounting for more than 85% of total exports.

Li Hongxia is also deeply touched by the increasing heat of Chilean cherries in the Chinese market year by year, from the first purchase of Chilean cherries in 2011 so far, the annual procurement volume is greatly increased, at the end of 2018, "Laiyang Junjie" imported a total of 150 containers from Chile about 2700 tons of cherries, and the import volume increased by 50 times in just 8 years.

San clemente is the first batch of well-known exporters in Chile to set up offices in China, its sales manager Liu Nian told China News Weekly that there were no competitors when it first entered the Chinese market, many Chilean agricultural products companies have opened offices in China in recent years, and many Chinese companies have opened offices in Chile to purchase Chilean agricultural products for sale to China, and some import and export companies that originally focused on other fruit categories have seen the huge sales potential of cherries. Now that I have also joined the market, I clearly feel that the competition is fierce. The Chinese market has also brought huge business opportunities to Chilean agriculture.

Apple trees and kiwi trees were cut down to plant cherries

The Chilean cherry harvest season is from November to January and February, coinciding with the New Year and the Chinese New Year, which is particularly popular with consumers. With China's economic development, Chile's high-quality cherries have entered second- and third-tier cities from first-tier cities. The consumption of Chilean cherries has also gradually shifted from holiday gifts to daily self-use. Liu Nian, sales manager of Sheng Kemeng, said that the sales curve from 2019 has clearly reflected this sign, "In previous years, the peak sales were concentrated during the Spring Festival, but in 2019, sales were still high after the Spring Festival, proving that Chilean cherries are becoming the daily consumption of Chinese consumers, the sales peak line in the Chinese market has been stretched longer, and the demand will increase." ”

Not only is there a lot of demand, but the price given by the Chinese market is far more than that of other markets. Li Hongxia said that Chile's cherries are also exported to the United States, but the US market can only consume fruits of relatively general quality, and the best quality and highest price of cherries only have good sales in the Chinese market.

Selling cherries makes money, which has become an open secret in Chile. Many fruit growers cut down the original apple trees and kiwi trees to plant cherries, and even some fruit farmers simply cut down the entire vineyard and changed it into a cherry orchard.

According to the yearbook of the Chilean Association of Fruit Nursery Enterprises (Asociación de Viveros de Chile), in 2017, more than 3 million cherry trees were planted in Chile, covering an area of about 3,340 hectares. Between 2013 and 2017, Chile completed 1. 170,000 hectares of cherry trees are planted, the vast majority of which are not yet fully operational.

Liu Nian told China News Weekly that it takes at least 3 to 5 years to cultivate a cherry tree, which means that there will be several years of fruit tree change without any income but only output, but these farmers still think that the investment is very worthwhile, "because the profits brought to them by cherry are too impressive."

Li Hongxia revealed that the first batch of cherries picked in Chile was airlifted to China, and it only takes 72 hours from picking to consumers, and this batch of "early fruits" is supplied to the high-end market, and the wholesale price is about 400-700 yuan per box (5 kg). The Chinese market is the best market to give back to Chilean fruit farmers, although Chilean cherries are also exported to Europe and the United States, but the price and profit are not as high as in China, especially the best quality of the fruit, mainly rely on the Chinese market consumption, the European and American market imports mainly Chilean low-end fruits.

Chile's fruit industry has formed a large company model, the company will have a large number of planting bases distributed in different regions, is a collection of planting, primary processing, brand and sales as one of the whole industry chain layout company. "Sants" is one such company, the original cherry orchards concentrated in Chile's fourth to ninth districts (the country is divided into 16 regions, these regions are numbered by Roman numerals from north to south), and now new farms have been expanded to the south and north to increase production. In 2019, "Sheng Ke Meng" opened a lot of new orchards in the Southern Chilean Patagonia region, and Liu Nian, sales manager of Shank Mun, said that the cherries supplied in central Chile were basically over in February, but Patagonia is close to the South Pole and can guarantee that there will be freight to China until April.

Ambassador Schmidt said that in the south of Chile, cherries were rarely planted because of heavy rain, and too much rain would cause damage to crops, but now farmers in the southern region have built roofs to grow cherries, and adopt plastic protection, using new varieties that can better resist humidity, so cherries can also be planted in the southern region.

In addition to the fact that fruit trees that are not as economically efficient as cherries are being cut down in large numbers, old cherries trees with poor varieties are also generally cut down to make way for new tree species with better yields and quality. In recent years, "Sheng Ke Meng" has gradually replaced the older varieties bing (Binying) and LAPINS (Labins) with new varieties regina (Regina) and KORDIA (Cordia), because the latter is a higher quality variety, and the wholesale price is 50-100 yuan per box more expensive than the ordinary variety.

In order to ensure the quality and size of the fruit, many growers will also prune off some bad branches, so that although some fruits will be lost, some fruit trees will even sift off 1/3 of the fruit, but to ensure that the harvested fruit is more advanced taste, nutrition, size and color. All this is because high-quality cherries are more popular in the Chinese market.

In order to better meet the needs of the Chinese market, exporters such as "Sheng Ke Meng" also selected the most high-end fruits specifically for the Chinese holiday market2. 5 kg per box of small gift box packaging (ordinary packaging is 5 kg per box), and the image of the Chinese dragon is printed on the box.

Drive the upgrading of the entire industry

In order to fully promote cherries in the Chinese market, from Chilean cherry producers, exporters, and the Chilean government to Chinese importers and distributors, they are all working hard to create an overall image of Chilean fruits. According to public data from the Chilean Fruit Association, Chile spends about $10 million a year on global promotion, of which 5 million is used to promote the Chilean cherry in the Chinese market.

Gonzalo Matamala, general manager of the China office of Gesex, a famous Chilean fruit producer, told China News Weekly that "the Chinese market is too important to us, and now Chilean agricultural exporters are talking about China, and the development of the Chinese market has not only driven the export of Chilean cherries, but also had an impact on Chile's agricultural structure, forcing the entire industry to improve in terms of technology, logistics and management levels." We believe that the Chinese market still has potential to tap, and the export volume of cherries can be increased. ”

Shanghai Guoranfeng Import & Export Co., Ltd., which began importing fruits from Chile in 2007, can be said to have witnessed the upgrading of Chile's entire industry, and International Purchasing Manager Jiang Chuanhui told China News Weekly that whether it is the level of orchard management or planting, Chile's fruit farmers are becoming more and more refined. For example, due to the increased demand in the Chinese market, the scale of Chilean cherries has expanded, and cherries must be harvested manually, resulting in a large number of labor shortages. In order to solve this problem, in recent years, Chile has introduced a new planting technology from Australia, "in the early stage of planting, the main trunk of the sapling is cut off, and more than a dozen branches are sent out around the trunk, which can increase the yield, and the branches are low-hanging, which is conducive to rapid picking." ”

In 2017, Chile launched a new cherries production line, known as one of the most innovative in the world, with higher cherry screening, processing capacity and a more standard cold chain packaging system.

Several respondents said that Chile has invested in top assembly line technology in the processing and refrigeration of cherries. The cherry seeds of the orchard are transported to the nearby water pre-cooling sorting field within 3-4 hours after harvesting, and the cold before sorting is carried out, that is, the pre-cooling is immediately cleaned with 0 ~ 1 ° C cold water, the temperature of the fruit core is controlled by 4 ~ 5 ° C, and disinfection is added to the water. After cleaning and disinfection, through the conveyor belt, transported to the separator for separation, the cluster cherries are separated into a single fruit, and then according to the size, color, hardness, sugar content of the fruit for mechanical automation grading, and then according to the requirements of different markets respectively weighed, packaged, through the conveyor belt into the cold storage refrigeration, waiting for the sale of the market, the whole process in one go.

Cherries are perishable fruits, and advanced handling and packaging techniques are not enough, but also efficient logistics. Since 2013, in order to reduce logistics costs and shorten logistics time, China Eastern Airlines' first Chilean fruit charter flight has gone directly to Shanghai, creating a precedent for China's imported fruit charter transportation. In 2014, Luxembourg Cargo Airlines also launched a cargo route from Santiago de Chile to Zhengzhou Airport.

In recent years, many shipping companies have launched clipper services. In the past, the export of cherries to China needed to transit from Mexico, which took a total of 33 to 35 days, but now from the port of Valparaiso in Chile to Hong Kong, the fastest only takes 22 days, and the whole cold chain is controlled during transportation. Under favorable conditions such as the Belt and Road Initiative, the China-Chile Free Trade Agreement and the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, China and Chile are exploring how to transport goods directly from the port of Valparaiso to the port of Shanghai.

Every year, the export of Chilean cherries almost becomes a grand local ceremony. In November 2018, Chile's Minister of Agriculture personally took the plunge for a ship full of cherries about to sail to China, watching a cargo ship full of cherries sail to China on the other side of the ocean.

According to a study by Duke University's Center for Globalization, Governance and Competitiveness, the opportunities brought about by China's growing demand have led to the expansion of Chilean agriculture, and with its large exports to China, Chile is expected to surpass rival the United States to become the world's largest exporter of cherries.

China's huge market naturally attracts global suppliers of cherries. From 1 January 2019, China and Australia have achieved tariff exemptions, and the Australian Cherry Growers Association said it will work hard to increase production to meet the needs of the Chinese market. On January 23, 2019, the Spanish Cherries Association said that the ministry of commerce and trade is negotiating with China on the export standards for cherries, hoping that Spanish cherries can enter China as soon as possible.

Despite the growing number of competitors, Ambassador Schmidt has absolute confidence in the quality of his country's cherries. In recent years, on the basis of continuing to expand the export of cherries to China, Chile will also expand the export of pork, wine and other products to China, and strive to open the door of China for seafood. Schmidt said: "Chinese is large, arable land is relatively small, in the process of promoting urbanization, but also further reduce arable land, imported agricultural products are becoming more and more important, Chile is a large exporter of agricultural products, can achieve complementary advantages with China." Chile was the first Latin American country to sign a bilateral free trade agreement with China, and China is currently the largest export market for Chilean agricultural, forestry and animal husbandry products. In the future, there is still a lot of room for cooperation between the two countries. ”