A positive balance was made by the general director of ProChile, Ignacio Fernandez; the exporting guilds and companies participating in the ninth version of Chile Week China 2024 during the penultimate day of activities in Guangzhou.
The delegation of 25 companies and associations were in four cities: Beijing, Hangzhou, Chengdu and Guangzhou, participating in nearly 20 activities to promote the country and its export offer.
"We believe that we have fulfilled the role of Chile Week China, the most important country promotion event that Chile carries out in the Asian giant, by being an umbrella for all the diverse and varied offer that our country has. We have talked about agriculture and food, pisco, creative industries, opportunities for tourism, we had two business rounds that allowed us to connect the Chilean offer with the international demand. We have companies that have closed deals, made business contacts and the entire delegation has been able to continue strengthening its ties with its Chinese counterparts," said Ignacio Fernandez, general director of ProChile.
These commercial results are in addition to this week's political milestone, since within the framework of Chile week China, Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren held an official meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, where they discussed the celebration of 55 years of diplomatic relations and 20 years since the signing of the Free Trade Agreement, which will be celebrated next year. They also discussed the 10 years of Chile Week China to be celebrated in 2025.
In addition, the Undersecretary of Agriculture, Ignacia Fernández, signed two opening protocols for the export of fresh fruit to China through third countries and a protocol for the export of pork and pork by-products.
Vision of the guilds
Around five exporting associations and guilds participated in Chile Week China. These had a prominent place in the agricultural and food seminars, where they were able to present the latest production trends and sustainability practices in their sectors to important Chinese counterparts.
"This week has been spectacular because the activities have been very popular, especially because many people visited the Chilean stands in the different markets. We are very happy for the joint work that stands out between the authorities and the private sector, showing us as a country in the Chinese market, in front of the authorities and Chinese consumers. We are very grateful for this from the export sector," said the president of Frutas de Chile, Ivan Marambio. This guild launched its campaign to promote the cherry season in the market with an activation with posters representing different varieties of cherries.
The general manager of Chilemeat, Rafael Lecaros, commented that "this is the second Chile Week that I have participated in person and I have found the efforts that ProChile has made to reach four cities and for our offer to advance towards the interior of China to be extraordinary. This market is a great demander of Chilean meat and we believe that we have gigantic opportunities to advance in the export of our products".
Meanwhile, Juan Francisco Carrasco, manager of the Chile Mussels sectorial brand, comments that "the most important thing that this Chile Week has left me with is that we are making inroads into inland cities. We are especially interested in Chengdu, a city that has no coastline and is far from seafood gastronomy. For us it is a sign that we were waiting for because our dream is that the interior will consume more of this type of food".
During this week, the achievement obtained by Ciruelas Chile, which signed an agreement with the Chinese supermarket chain Freshippo to export directly from the growers' fields to the shelves of the Alibaba group retailer, stands out. The president of Ciruelas Chile, Jesús de la Riva, said that "this is the end of a cycle in which we are able to connect producers directly with end consumers, understanding what they want, maintaining quality standards and achieving a fairer price for the entire chain. ProChile's work, from the O'Higgins region to the commercial offices in the market, has been fundamental in the nearly 12 years that we have been working to learn how to export this product to the Chinese market.
Business roundtable and contacts for creative industries
The delegation of 25 companies had two business rounds in Beijing and Guangzhou, and two business meetings in Hangzhou and Chengdu. Juan Carlos Ortuzar, partner of the pisquera Tulahuen, said that "we have done very well. We have had many contacts and the truth is that we are very enthusiastic and happy. Although pisco is still an unknown category, especially at the end consumer level, I was surprised that in southern China they know what a brandy is and when it is explained that pisco is a type of brandy, it is easier to bring the product to importers".
Meanwhile, Jean Escobar, Sales Manager of Fruteec Chile -a company dedicated to dehydrated plums- commented that "being with the weight of ProChile, the backing that being in Chile Week gives you, gives much more seriousness to the companies".
Escobar, thanks to the business roundtable in Beijing, was able to gain the loyalty of one of its existing customers in the market and agreed to export two containers. In Hangzhou they were able to obtain meetings with importers for future business, and in Chengdu, they were able to visit an importer of a supermarket chain, obtaining the sale of another container. Finally, in Guangzhou, they had the opportunity to meet with buyers to sell plum juice concentrate.
They were joined by two representatives of creative industries: Giancarlo Nasi of Quijote Films -the audiovisual producer behind Los Colonos, a film that was selected to represent Chile at the 2024 Oscars- and Simón Weinstein of Fractal Juegos, a board game company that exported "Dragones del Mar" to China.
"I have been able to have 4 meetings with different Chinese publishers: two of them with whom we have already done business and we are seeing how to improve them and make new ones, and two more for prospecting. In addition, we had a meeting with a printing company that offered us their service. ProChile's commitment to seek diversification of exports to China has been interesting, and in the case of board games we have quality and eye-catching content that goes from Chile to the rest of the world," says Weinstein.
Vision of the guilds
One of the novelties of Chile Week China were the "Made by Chilean" markets in the Sanlitun area of Beijing, in Chengdu, and on Beijing Road in Guanghzou, the old center of this city. In Beijing, for example, about 20 thousand people were able to enjoy the market located in Sanlitun T + mall, one of the most international areas of the Chinese capital. In addition to the markets, in Hangzhou, a bus with special Chile branding toured the main areas of the city, helping to promote the Chile brand in this city, which was visited for the first time.
Tomorrow will be the last activity of Chile Week China where we will visit the Jiangnan market, the most important fresh fruit market in southern China and one of the main accesses that Chilean fresh fruit has to the Asian giant.
Check the original article on ProChile's website.
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