Although in homeopathic doses in the Central Market these days have been surprised since appearance of imported apples, cherries, blueberries, oranges, bananas, plums and peaches. In Argentina from importing stocks, these fruits come mainly from the hand of bad, the iconic American multinational corporation with its heart in Westlake Village, California and feet worldwide.
Dole landed in the country by purchasing the exporter Productores Empacadores Argentinos under the leadership of Pablo Lioni, current CEO of Dole Argentina. and specializes in bananas that have a special regime. There are many other importers in the opportunity business who bring avocados from Chile, melons and grapes from Brazil and citrus fruits from Spain and Israel.
The official goal of giving them access to cheap dollars seems crooked: it’s imported for avoid further shocks in the prices of products that cannot be controlled. Quantities are unknown. And they have been known to come in at substantially lower prices but they range grease the timing chain.
No reliable statistics
It is that, unlike other sectors, “in fruit and vegetables there are no reliable statisticsnot even those of the Central Market”, assures Mariano Winograd, one of the leading experts in the sector.
By the way, in that large entity of concentration launched by Raúl Alfonsín in times of high inflation, today the deterioration of its structures reigns. Its president, Nahuel Levaggi, is the national coordinator of the land workers’ union and was installed by the province of Buenos Aires, of which he is the head shared with the Municipality of Buenos Aires.
For Winograd the imported volume not enough to avoid price increases. The national supply is limited in a production dominated by small family businesses with Yields damaged by the heat wave despite the fact that almost everything is done with irrigation. That’s what happens with coastal citrus fruits, San Pedro peaches, potatoes and onions, according to him.
Except for Tierra del Fuego due to its extreme climate and the city of Buenos Aires where there is no land, all of Argentina is suitable for farms and fruit and vegetable crops. The activity requires an intense workforce and a certain degree of industrialization due to the packaging and refrigeration plants, as well as logistics.
underdeveloped business
Yet it is underdeveloped. Perhaps because you need a lot of capital for a long time and that seems difficult in an economy with economic cyclones like ours. A cherry tree, an apple tree or a lemon tree takes 6 to 8 years until they bear the first fruits and during that entire period it is necessary to fertilize, prune them, protect them from snowfalls and heavy rains.
In March, pears and apples are harvested in Río Negro and Neuquén. The pears that went mainly to Europe, with the official dollar “backlog” according to the producers, Now they go to Brazil which does not have this fruit and is abundant in apples. In both productions they get excited about a special dollar.
There he steps on the Kleppe company, founded by a Norwegian who has settled in Cipolletti and sells under the Gaucho brand. A special case is Moño Azul, by Hugo Sánchez, who succeeded displace kiwifruit imports with its production in Mar del Plata. And there are other great protagonists such as San Miguel, from the Miguens-Bemberg group for lemons, Tres Ases from the Grisanti family and Bulgheroni for red fruits.
Source: Clarin
