Chinese purchases of Chilean food items have slumped 50% to 60% since the outbreak of coronavirus, according to government export promotion agency, ProChile. Cherries, wine and seafood are among the most affected items. About a third of all Chilean exports go to China.

“We’re trying to mitigate losses by rerouting shipments to other countries in Asia,” ProChile chief Jorge O’Ryan said by telephone from Germany, where he attended a fruit trade fair.

“We’ll have to wait the next two or three weeks to evaluate the situation properly.”

The outbreak, which has infected more than 24,000 people and claimed almost 500 lives, prompted the lockdown of 50 million people in a dozen Chinese cities. Countless others are opting to work and eat at home. With distribution channels clogged, flows of basic food items are being prioritised.

Besides the plunge in orders, about 1,400 containers carrying Chilean food and wine are waiting to unload in Chinese ports, O’Ryan said.

Authorities there are accepting 40 to 50 containers a day from Chile, compared with 200 to 350 normally. That bottleneck could lead to losses of perishable goods and trigger a scarcity of refrigerated containers, he said.

Still, Chile’s fruit industry group Fedefruta pointed to efforts to limit distribution disruptions in China and reduce shipping times to minimise the impact of port delays.