During the last months, the Chilean fresh fruit export industry has taken significant steps in the search for market opening and the flexibilization of entry conditions, following a series of visits to the country by authorities and technical inspectors from phytosanitary agencies of the United States, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The discussions were held together with professionals from the Servicio Agrícola y Ganadero (SAG) and Frutas de Chile.
The delegations reviewed on-site the process from when the agricultural product leaves the field until it is mobilized to international markets, as well as the compliance with the respective protocols.
In this framework, a delegation from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA-Aphis) was recently in Chile, whose inspectors and technicians verified on-site the compliance with the phytosanitary measures agreed upon with the SAG.
In this regard, Miguel Canala-Echeverría, general manager of Frutas de Chile, highlighted that “the main focus of this inspection was pest control both at the intra- and extra-farm level. Ultimately, this visit sought to advance in the flexibilization of the System Approach for the export of fresh plums and blueberries to the United States, optimizing the processes and shipping times.”
The visit focused on various evaluation activities, which included meetings with the SAG in Santiago, inspections of plum fields in the O’Higgins Region, as well as the review of fruit facilities or plum packings and authorized laboratories in the Maule Region. Meanwhile, in the case of blueberries, the USDA team visited blueberry orchards and packings in the Ñuble Region and the Teno Phytosanitary Inspection Site.
Meanwhile, from November 24 to 28, 2025, a visit was received from inspectors of the Plant Production and Protection Department (PPPD) of Vietnam. “This visit focused on a proposal presented by the SAG that seeks for fresh cherry exports by air not to be obligated to undergo the extensive cold treatment, but to replace it with a systems approach or Systems Approach,” commented the agronomist engineer from Frutas de Chile.
“Currently, cherry shipments must undergo a 28-day cold treatment, a period that is unviable due to the short air travel time.
In this way, the Vietnamese phytosanitary authority toured cherry orchards and packings in the O’Higgins, Maule, and Metropolitan regions, visualizing each procedure,” communicated Frutas de Chile.
“As well as meeting with SAG professionals in order to have more details to move forward in approving an alternative Systems Approach for air shipments of fresh Chilean cherries, which would allow for a faster arrival of this Chilean fruit to this important Southeast Asian market,” they added.
Regarding the Philippines, Miguel Canala-Echeverría specified that “inspectors from the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) of the Department of Agriculture of the Philippines visited blueberry fields and packings in Coquimbo, O’Higgins, and Santiago, from November 10 to 14, 2025.”
“Along with that, they also toured the SAG facilities at the Port of Valparaíso, in order to check processes and protocols for our fresh blueberry exports, as what we are seeking is the opening of the Philippine market for these fruits,” he expanded.
In the case of the Philippines, Chile already has almost all of its main fruits authorized for entry, only lacking approval for avocados and blueberries. “If all goes well, Chilean blueberries could enter the Philippine market within the next season. If so, Chile would become thefirst country to export fresh blueberries to the Philippines, which will also drive the development of a new market for this fruit,” explained the general manager.
Finally, it was emphasized that the results of these visits were promising and reflect the constant effort of the Chilean public and private sector to ensure quality and compliance with the highest global phytosanitary standards. The focus will now be on completing the regulatory processes to consolidate these advances.
