Chile eyes small cities in India for food biz

New Delhi: Having made its presence felt in the agro-products segment in big Indian cities, Chile is now keen to tap the markets in smaller cities for its premium produce of wines, walnuts and other dry fruits.

The Latin American country is also keen to let its customers inform about the country of origin of the products and is set to launch a brand-building campaign through a masterclass on Chilean wines and other events.

"There is a lot of interest here. There is a big opportunity here, we are going to increase that. We are not only talking of big cities, but also looking at Tier-2, Tier-3 cities," Ignacio Fernandez Ruiz, General Director of ProChile, an arm of the Foreign Ministry that deals in the promotion of exports .

Ruiz said ProChile is in talks with local importers and businesses to identify new markets in India. Chile has been exporting walnuts, wines, cherries, kiwis, prunes to India, and is also keen to increase the basket of food products under the preferential trade agreement. "We could go further in our trade relationship in terms of our trade agreement that can be enhanced in order to put more goods into it," Ruiz said.

Chile was the first Latin American country to individually sign a trade agreement with India and currently, both countries maintain a partial scope agreement that came into force in 2017.

Ruiz said his mission is also to make people aware that the popular products available in the markets here are from Chile.