Argentina: low volumes compared to last year, but quality ensures exports

22 Jan 2025
1442

“It will be difficult for the cherry exports to exceed the 7,000 tons reached last season,” said Aníbal Caminiti, general director of the Argentine Chamber of Integrated Cherry Producers (CAPCI), with a certain resignation, when asked about the evolution of the campaign. Not by chance, at the beginning of the harvest, it was expected that external placements of this product could reach the 8,000-ton threshold.

But the Chubut harvest failed, and estimates predicted that this season would bring just over 1,800 tons of cherries to the international market. “The damage caused by hail and the unusual rainfall ended up affecting more than 50% of the total harvest in Chubut. This scenario was not in anyone’s plans,” Caminiti confided.

During the last season, cherry exports almost reached 7,200 tons, and by the end of December this year, they had settled at 6,000 tons.

“We will have a record production in Río Negro, relatively normal in Neuquén and Mendoza, but we will suffer a strong drop in Chubut, which limits the last stage of exports of the system,” added the CAPCI manager.

When asked about the price crisis observed for cherries in the Chinese market, the businessman assured that it did not affect the Argentine offer, as many of the early fruits were distributed to other markets, maintaining high prices compared to those in China.

“Unlike Chile, which had quality problems in its exportable offer, our fruit was in high demand because it was of excellent quality,” explained Caminiti. He added that a significant percentage of the exports consisted of early cherries, meaning they entered the market when it was relatively “clean.” On the other hand, not much fruit was destined for the Chinese market. “We don’t have a commercial dependency on China like Chile,” he added.

As a reference, by the first week of 2025, the neighboring country had exported about 550,000 tons of cherries, of which around 510,000 (93%) were destined for the Chinese market.

“This season will not be negative for Argentine exporters. Prices have remained stable thanks to the quality of the cherries. We lacked volume, which unfortunately affected the producers in Chubut,” Caminiti confided at the end of the conversation.

Source: Más Producción
Image:  Más Producción


Cherry Times - All rights reserved

What to read next

Adara was the best of seven rootstocks on sour cherries in Serbia

Rootstocks

30 May 2024

In Serbia, sour cherries are a traditional fruit type grown on 19,551 ha. A study conducted by the University of Kragujevac in Čačak probed the suitability of seven clonal rootstocks and one seed rootstock (mirabolan) grafted with the sour cherry variety 'Šumadinka'.

A smartphone is now enough to diagnose cherry diseases

Crop protection

23 Jul 2024

Three separate methodologies, namely the YOLOv8s, RtmDET MM Detection and DETR Transformer algorithms, were trained on the generated hybrid dataset and compared with each other. The YOLOv8s algorithm showed the best performance as a result of the training.

In evidenza

The harvest of early cherries in the Ebro Valley will begin in mid-April

Production

06 Apr 2026

In Spain’s Ebro Valley, early cherry harvest will start on April 15. Covered crops show resilience despite unstable weather, while uncertainty remains for mid and late varieties due to rain and wind during flowering.

The new Cheery Glow variety is attracting the attention of growers, exporters and investors

Varieties

06 Apr 2026

The new Cheery Glow cherry developed in Chile combines early harvest, high quality and low chill requirements. Earlier than Santina and with strong postharvest performance, it opens new commercial opportunities and supports market diversification worldwide.

Tag Popolari