With confirmation of Esteban Valenzuela, Agricultural Minister of Chile, Fernando Mattos Costa, Minister of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries of Uruguay, David Littleproud, Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia as well as former Minister of Agriculture from Peru, Milton von Hesse and Phil Houlding, Director of International Policy at the Ministry for Primary Industries in New Zealand as speakers at the Southern Hemisphere Fresh Fruit Trade Congress at the 30th of March 2022, Southern Hemisphere fresh produce has gained significant recognition at government level in a continued period of cost hikes and supply chain disruptions.
In their keynote speeches, all five government representatives will honour the fresh produce industry as a key pillar to food security, to a sustainable future and as a strategic element for their future growth strategies. With these contributions the Southern Hemisphere fresh produce industries have been proving, that their valuable contributions to public health and global nutrition are increasingly moving into the centre of public debate. This comes timely, as Southern Hemisphere exporters are preparing for a challenging season ahead, which includes managing well through a continued period of uncertainty continuously shaped by Covid-19 in the megamarket China, cost hikes and continued supply chain disruptions in Northern Hemisphere markets.
“The Southern Hemisphere Fresh Fruit Trade Congress is built, to become our platform to exchange with our colleagues in the Southern Hemisphere as well as our trading partners in the Northern Hemisphere markets on the upcoming season”, says Charif Christian Carvajal, current SHAFFE President and representative of the Chilean Fruit Exporter Association.
Therefore, this years Congress will analyse current market access developments in China and India together with sector experts Kurt Huang, Deputy Secretary General of the Fruit Section of the China Chamber of Commerce for Food Stuffs and Native Produce and Sumit Saran, Director at SS Associates, a leading expert for the Indian import and retail sector.
The sectors perspective will be shared by exporters of the leading commodities to the Chinese and Indian markets: apple (Ben McLeod, Mr. Apple, NZ), table grapes (Jeff Scott, Australian Table Grape Association), cherries (Mario Edwards, Agrofruta, Chile), oranges (Jason Bosch, Origin Direct Asia, South Africa) and blueberries (David Bustamante, Grupo Cerro Prieto, Peru) The Congress will further share the voice of the CEO’s of Agricola Famosa, a leading exporter from Brazil, CAFI – Argentina Chamber of Integrate Fresh Fruit Producer(Argentina)s, the Consorcio Productores de Frutas (Peru) and Urud’Or (Uruguay) on the impact of the current cost hikes accelerated through the geopolitical situation – and seeks for solutions together with Ron Lemaire, President of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association, Anton Kruger from FPEF, Ronald Bown from ASOEX and Terry Meikle, CEO of New Zealand Apple and Pears.
More information about the Congress and registration link is available here. – Registration is free – Simultanous translation will be provided in Spanish and Chinese.
The language of the Congress is English. For more information, please get in touch with the SHAFFE Secretariat via secretariat@shaffe.net