Production of tangerines/mandarins in Chile will increase by 13.1% in 2024–25 and total 250,000 metric tons (MT), the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA FAS) recently projected.
PLANTED AREA
The area planted with mandarins is projected at 12,700 hectares, a 4.8% increase from 2023–24. Due to high profits, the area planted in the Metropolitana, O’Higgins and Valparaíso regions in the central part of the country grew significantly in the past three marketing years. Mandarins became a profitable alternative for producers in those regions.
For example, in the Valparaíso region, mandarin plantings have increased because of the crop’s adaptability to the terrain and climate. Producers have shifted from avocados, which are very sensitive to low temperatures and humidity, to mandarins, planting them on hillsides using drip irrigation.
RAINFALL AND DROUGHT
Chile, in general, had abundant rainfall in the winter of 2023–24. However, in the top mandarin-producing region of Coquimbo, drought persists and water availability for irrigation is insufficient. The Coquimbo region holds 42.2% of the Chilean mandarin acreage. Drought in that region has a large impact on Chile’s mandarin production.
EXPORTS AND IMPORTS
USDA FAS projects that exports in 2024–25 will increase by 14.1% and total 218,000 MT. In 2023–24, through September, the top export market for Chilean mandarin exports was the United States, which received 139,859 MT of Chilean mandarin/tangerine exports. That represents 97.1% of Chile’s exports. Other markets for Chilean mandarins are Canada, Spain and Mexico.
Chile exports mandarins from May until December. The exports peak around September each year. In 2023–24, exports were lower during the peak shipping months because of low production volumes resulting from drought in the Coquimbo region.
Chilean import volume of mandarins does not surpass 1,000 MT per year. In 2023–24, according to data through September, Chile imported 210 MT of mandarins, a 56.5% decrease from 2022–23. The United States is the top supplier of mandarins to Chile, with a 68.6% market share.
See the full USDA FAS report on Chilean citrus here.
Source: USDA FAS
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