The shipments were made to 78 countries, two more than in 2023, amounting China a big relevance representing one third of the exports in terms of volume (MT) and a fourth in terms of amount in dollars FOB.
Chilean prune exportations, a super food that reached 78 countries during 2024- two more than in 2023- reached 88,897 metric tons (MT) corresponding to US$ 255,1 million.
Of these totals, most part of the shipments were to China, which increased its presence and relevance regarding previous years. In fact, the volume of exports to the Asian giant reached 29,798 MT representing a third of the total shipments which is equivalent to US$ 63.7 million, that is to say a fourth of the total amount.
There is a great distance from China to the second and third prune shipment destinations: Poland with 8,117 MT (US$ 21 million) and Mexico with 7,456.3 (US$19.8 million).
Chile, the world main prune exporter, had among its main markets Germany, The United States, The United Kingdom, Turkey, Italy, Spain and Australia. The main Latin-American destinations after Mexico are Peru, Colombia and Ecuador.
This information was given by Customs, a Chilean governmental agency.
As of February 2025
During the first months of the year China has kept its importance in volume and returns.
Regarding volume, the Chilean prune exports have amounted 2,606.9 MT, which represents a fourth of the total; regarding amounts of money, it reached US$ 5,9 million, that is 20.12% of the total; this represents a slight decrease in percentage terms of the importance of this country in relation to de quantities seen during 2024.
The total exported volume during the first months of the year is 10,129.2 tons equivalent to US$ 29.7 million.
Europe is still important because Poland, Germany, The United Kingdom and Italy are the next most relevant destinations regarding volumes. Then, to complete the list of the top 10 we find Mexico, The United States, Australia, Spain, and Lithuania; the last one is a novelty in the ranking.
Thanks to the area planted with European plums, which is more than 13 thousand hectares, Chile has a production bordering 110,000 MT per year; from this amount an important percentage is destined to fresh fruit to be sold to China according to Chileprunes, Asociación Gremial de Procesadores y Exportadores de Ciruelas Deshidratadas de Chile (Professional Association of Processers and Exporters of Prunes), guild that concentrates more than 70% of the prune exports.
