The Chilean Minister of Agriculture, Antonio Walker, has announced the start of paperless or paperless phytosanitary certification between Chile and the United States, which means that plant products that are marketed between both markets only require the electronic certificate for entry On arrival, this will allow speeding up and reducing costs in the export process, a significant advance considering that 35% of Chilean fresh fruit is sent to this market.

“The United States is a strategic partner for Chile, since more than a third of our fresh fruit is destined for that market. That is why the development and implementation of electronic certification between the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is great news, especially at this time when we need to facilitate international trade, apply technological tools. to simplify these exchanges and offer solutions to our producers ”, indicated the Minister of Agriculture, Antonio Walker.

For his part, the National Director of the SAG, Horacio Bórquez, highlighted the work that the institution has been doing with APHIS, which dates from 2013 and now culminates after several intermediate stages, with fully electronic certification. Given the health contingency of Covid-19, both countries put all their effort into making the necessary negotiations and adjustments for the definitive replacement of the paper certificate with the electronic document transmitted through the HUB-CIPF platform, initiating paperless as a means official for phytosanitary certification for all agricultural, forestry products and propagation material that are exchanged between both countries. An advance that also allows reducing the costs of sending documentation for export, "said Bórquez.

Among the main products that Chile exports to the United States are grapes, followed by oranges, mandarins, apples, and blueberries. The volumes exported during 2019 reached 871,880 tons, while 490,790 tons of plant-based products have already been shipped so far in 2020.

Regarding imports, Chile receives mainly corn and wheat, followed by almonds and soybeans, and since October 1, 2019 to date, 313,480 tons have been imported domestically.