At his turn, Marcelo Lacunza, commercial manager of Prunesco, points out that "they want long-term relationships, that extend for many years, and not just a season, we agree on that."
On June 16, key representatives from three large Indian conglomerates landed in Chile. Their objective is to strengthen commercial ties with various Chileprunes' affiliates that export or seek to make shipments India. The delegation also plans to meet with authorities from ProChile and Sofofa, Chileprunes reported.
Delegates include Gunjan Vijay Jain, director of VKC Nuts Private Limited, Pratik Dattani, managing partner at Regency Global Ingredient LLP, and Rajeev Pabreja, managing director of Commodity Trading Corporation.
The senior executives will be accompanied by Sumit Saran, director of SS Associates, an international consulting firm that supports Chileprunes in that country.
Upon arrival, Pratik Dattani and Rajeev Pabreja made reference to the good quality of the Chilean dried plum, which is high in nutritional value, “so we are very interested as a benefit for people's health. In our company we have been importing since 2006,” said Pabreja.
On June 19, after visiting the Prunesco and Frutexsa plants, as well as meeting with representatives of South365 and Kaikén, the Indian delegation expressed serious interest in working together with the companies that produce and export Chilean dried plums.
In different instances, the director of VKC Nuts Private Limited has expressed his Chilean counterparts the relevance of "playing on the same side of the court" to reach consumers in a better way, but emphasizing that, it is also relevant to do so through product promotion plans that are not for one or two years, but rather long term, thinking about 5, 6 or 7 years.
This is because the product is still unknown in India, to the point that the term "prunes" has been confused with an animal by certain people.
Marcelo Lacunza, commercial manager of Prunesco, points out that “they want long-term relationships, that extend for many years, and not just a season, we agree on that.”
And he adds: “I think the results of this meeting are going to be very good. India is a very attractive country due to the size of the country, and the consumption of dried plums is very low, so it has been a very good decision to bring them to Chile, invest in this, show them what the Chilean industry is and the technology. what we have".
Likewise, he points out, Chile has a stable harvest over time where they can ensure volumes that can satisfy the needs of a market like India throughout the year.
Lacunza also highlights that "they see the Chilean origin as a premium, top-of-the-line origin, due to the campaigns that Chile has previously carried out in those markets."
Sebastián Plaza Sales & Product Manager at Frutexsa, adds that there is a very good will from the Indian delegation to promote the consumption of plums and for that they ask their Chilean counterparts to make the investment promotion efforts long term. “They understand what the market is like, they know it will take time,” he says.
They are very aligned and eager to grow consumption in India - he adds - and to do this, we must work together.
“I was left with the best impressions and goodwill from customers to grow this category of dried plums. It is a market that can reach 10 to 12,000 tons in a short time, in 6 to 7 years, something relevant if as a country, in total we export 70,000 tons."
He adds that Chileprunes' resources have been invested in a good way, highlighting the valuable of bringing the importers and show them that the product they receive is produced by first-class processing plants.
For his part, Joaquín Tagle, partner of South 365, commented that the representatives of the delegation express great interest in knowing details about the differences with the plum from California, United States, which has been in the Indian market longer than the Chilean one.
"They also consult a lot about drying, in the oven and in the sun, and we explained to them that if Chile were not consistent, did not have very good quality in solar drying, we would not be the main exporters in the world. 80% of the drying of our dried plums in Chile is due to the sun."
The executive expresses that generally speaking, the delegation does not know the product in detail. “There is a lot to make known, since they may know about nuts in general, but not necessarily about dried plums. They make a lot of dehydrated in India, for example, raisins, but they are not experts in plums, therefore, we are responsible as an industry and country brand, to guide them and explain how we work in Chile, our commitment to quality, and also other details such as the caliber that is best for them to buy.”
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