After two years of negotiations between Guatemalan and Chilean authorities, national exporters celebrate the authorization to ship Guatemalan fresh mango to Chile. The first shipment departed on April 10^th, 2019 with destination to the South American country.

This first mango shipment to Chile was possible with the efforts of AGEXPORT’s Mango Committee as well as the Agriculture Protection Program (PIPAA, for its acronym in Spanish), the Agriculture and Foreign Affairs Ministries, as well as the Chilean Agriculture and Livestock Service; said Mr. Estuardo Cobo, president of AGEXPORT’s Mango Committee.

One of the most important requirements established by Chilean authorities to accept Guatemalan mango is a phytosanitary obligation of applying a hypothermic treatment during its packaging process. Processing plants that apply this treatment need to be authorized by the Chilean Agriculture and Livestock Service, as well as approved and executed by special inspectors from the Guatemalan Agriculture Protection Program.

In order to support Guatemala’s exporting companies, Hapag Lloyd created a special maritime route from Guatemala to Chile that reduces normal transit time from 21 to only 14 days. This will allow Guatemalan mango to reach its final destination fresher and ensure a better quality to consumers, raising the country’s competitiveness; said Mr. André Cruz, Hapag Lloyd’s trade representative in Guatemala.

This Project started with support from Al-Invest 5.0, a project from the European Union, which assisted exporting firms with know-how on food safety best practices specific for mango exports, based on requirements from the Chilean Agriculture and Livestock Service. This knowledge was the key to structure the necessary procedures to comply with the Chilean regulations.

This first mango shipment to Chile opens new opportunities for Guatemala as it happened at a time where Chilean main mango suppliers (Peru and Ecuador) do not produce this exotic fruit. This gives Guatemala the opportunity to continue supplying this new niche.

Agroindustrias del Trópico is a member of AGEXPORT’s Mango Committee. We were responsible for handling the first order of 22,400 kilos of Tommy mangoes to Chilean supermarkets and wholesalers. This motivates us as an exporting company to continuously seek new markets and position our eight mango varieties abroad. So far, we ship mainly to the United States and Europe; said Mr. Eddy Martinez, CEO of Agroindustrias del Trópico.

Guatemala’s mango exports generate formal employment to more than 5,000 Guatemalans on farms and packaging plants, and more than 50,000 jobs on the harvesting season.