Argentine fruit exports affected by the conflict between Ukraine and Russia

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is already impacting Argentine exports of pears, apples and citrus fruits. These products cannot reach their destinations due to the closure of the ports of these two countries, or they seek to change their address, as happened with 3 shipments of pears that are on the high seas and that had left for the Russian port of San Petersburg on February 24, but were redirected to the European Union.

 

Currently, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Service for Agrifood Health and Quality (Senasa) are taking measures so that shipments that have to arrive at the port of Saint Petersburg can be paid through bank accounts not yet frozen by the sanctions ordered by Europe and the United States.

 

According to Marcelo Loyarte, manager of the Argentine Chamber of Integrated Fruit Growers (CAFI), annual imports of Argentine pears and apples by Russia are between 80,000 and 90,000 tons. He stressed that due to delayed payments, it will be a very low percentage of apples and pears that will reach the Russian market this year. The current task is to redirect production, possibly to the domestic and Latin American markets, taking into account the protocols of the different countries.

 

At the same time, Argentina suffers from the unavailability of containers to the Russian market, according to Rio Negro media. Less than 30% of the fruit will be arriving at this destination: of the nearly 35,000 tons of pears and apples that already left the port of San Antonio Este (SAE) at the beginning of the season, 11,300 tons are destined for Russia.

 

Citrus is the other sector affected by the war. In 2021, 60% (18,000 tons) of Argentine mandarins and oranges were exported to Russia, while Russian imports of Argentine lemon are around 40,000 to 50,000 tons per year.

 

According to Martin González, president of the Argentine Chamber of Citrus Exporters, the provinces of Entre Ríos and Corrientes, from where the largest quantity of oranges and tangerines come from, are facing a serious problem because he believes that the war conflict will not be resolved soon, and marketing will be complicated by importers' inability to make payments due to Russia's exclusion from Swift.

 

Santiago Caprarulo, Executive Director of the Chamber of Citrus Exporters of Northeast Argentina and Vice President of the Argentine Citrus Federation, stated that the inability to market normally with Russia, exporters will mostly redirect to Southeast Asia. Also, a lot of fruit will stay in Argentina and it will be a big problem, because prices in the domestic market will fall even more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

source: infobae.com