Chile targets Vietnam and Indonesia as China takes 77% of its Asian fruit shipments

Chile's fruit industry is targeting Vietnam and Indonesia as its main new destinations in Asia, where China currently absorbs 77% of the country's fruit shipments. Iván Marambio, a representative of Frutas de Chile, outlined the strategy at the Fruit Logistica fair in Asia, in remarks reported by FreshPlaza.

China still absorbs 77% of Asian shipments

“Chile has market diversification in its DNA, and that is what we do on the fruit side,” Marambio said. Even so, the work in China is not being scaled back: it extends beyond the largest metropolitan areas into what the industry calls “regional China”, meaning tier 2 and tier 3 cities, alongside the tier 1 cities where a consolidated consumer base already exists.

Marambio described the Asian buyer as demanding and well informed. “It is a consumer who knows what they want, who does not accept anything less than the best quality,” he said, adding that the same buyer constantly asks for innovation, new varieties and new packaging. That profile sets the commercial bar for any exporter entering the region: quality and varietal renewal, rather than price, are the entry conditions.

Southeast Asia: 0.5% of export volume

Despite the weight of Asia in Chile's commercial planning, the volume reaching Southeast Asia remains marginal. “Only 0.5% of the volume Chile exports goes to Southeast Asia,” Marambio said. He pointed to phytosanitary protocols recently signed with Vietnam and Indonesia as the key steps toward changing that figure.

The two numbers frame the scale of the task. A 77% concentration in China sits against a 0.5% share for the whole of Southeast Asia, which makes the region a low base rather than an established outlet. For exporters, the practical implication is that access work in Vietnam and Indonesia is about building volume close to zero, not redirecting flows that already exist.

Access granted species by species

Market entry is advancing product by product rather than across the whole basket. In Vietnam, cherries hold the widest access, recently reinforced by approval of a protocol for shipments by air, while kiwifruit and blueberries still have no access at all. Indonesia signed a protocol recognising Chile as free of fruit fly, which simplifies export procedures.

• Vietnam: cherries have the broadest access, now including an approved air-freight protocol.
• Vietnam: kiwifruit and blueberries remain without market access.
• Indonesia: Chile recognised as free of fruit fly, with cold treatment reclassified.

“Cold treatment is handled differently. It is no longer a quarantine requirement, but only a requirement of fruit quality and condition,” Marambio said of the Indonesian protocol, linking the change to less bureaucracy and lower logistics costs. The distinction matters operationally: a quarantine treatment must be certified and documented before shipment, whereas managing chilling as a condition tool leaves the decision with the exporter.

Vietnam also carries a calendar factor. The country will host the APEC CEO Summit next year, an event that brings together leaders from the forum's 21 economies, and the Chilean industry expects to use it to present its products.

Weather and ports as the season opens

Marambio flagged El Niño and the increase in typhoons in the region as variables affecting both orchard production and port logistics. “There is a weather disruption that affects fruit production,” he said, adding that port openings and port conditions are under constant monitoring by the industry.

The export season is starting its cycle with citrus, avocados and blueberries, followed by cherries, stone fruit and table grapes. That sequence puts cherries — the product with the widest Vietnamese access and a new air protocol — in the middle of the campaign rather than at its start. Quality remains the central plank of the industry's positioning in Asian markets.