Neuquén (Argentina): 50% growth with record production at 1,600 tonnes

External placements of cherries in Neuquén this season amounted to 1,600 tonnes, a figure that represents a growth of around 49% compared to the previous year and a jump of 58% if one considers the average export volume of the last five seasons.

Good weather conditions in the Upper Valley region made it possible to achieve these export volumes. "It was a very good year. We had a high quality harvest and this was recognised by the market,' Aníbal Caminiti, director of the  Integrated Producers Argentinean Cherries Association  (CAPCI), told Más Producción.

Neuquén holds an important share in Argentina's cherry exports, averaging 22 per cent of the product's total external placements. This season's sales will generate foreign currency worth just over USD 4 million. In the province, the cherry harvest is over and exports are also finished. There are two key companies driving the foreign trade of this type of product in Neuquén: Vista Alegre and Pincen.

"On a national level, we can say that we are about to reach 6,000 tonnes of exported cherries. Until Friday, 5,100 tonnes had been exported," Caminiti noted. It should be noted that all of Chubut's exports have yet to be shipped. This exportable supply is for late cherries, which arrive on foreign markets when the fruit is very scarce.

"Late exports are also very important. The cherry that is shipped in March arrives on the Chinese market in April, a time when the supply drops considerably with the participation of local production under glass. But the volume peaks have already passed,' the CAPCI manager clarifies.

In this regard, it is worth mentioning that in international markets there are two 'shocks' per season when supply drops sharply. The first of these occurs in October and November, the first season in the southern hemisphere.

Many of the exports from the Río Negro Valley and Neuquén rely on this 'commercial window' to achieve high levels of profitability. The other 'hit' occurs in March and April, when the late exportable supply arrives from the southern region of Patagonia (Chubut and Santa Cruz).

Chile, the world's largest exporter of cherries, enters the markets early and achieves high levels of profitability; however, for the time being, it does not have the necessary volumes to supply the international market with late cherries.

Read the full article: Más Producción

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