Faced with the outbreak of fruit fly in the Metropolitan region, but outside the main production areas, the Chilean fruit industry has swiftly come up with regulatory measures which it expects will eliminate the problem before November, the start of next season. The pest is believed to have arrived on fruit brought in from Peru. The successful outcome is critical for the United States, Chile's largest market, where stringent laws ban imports, while Europe, where the pest originated, is not affected. However is the former market was closed exporters would inevitably consider shipping more fruit to its major markets in the UK, Germany and France. Meanwhile agriculture minister Jamie Campos has hinted the government will assist growers by creating swifter access to lines of credit to allow them to open up new markets. Ways to increase the demand for pear varieties such as Beurre Bosc and summer Bartlett also will have to be addressed as profitability has fallen. While Packhams continue to make money, a recent analysis showed that overall pear growers were losing the equivalent of $0.05/kilo. {{FRESH PRODUCE }}

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