Argentina to start blueberry export from Tucuman in Sep 20

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BUENOS AIRES: Blueberries started as an experiment no one wanted to bet on and it has slowly gained ground in the Tucuman’s agricultural diversification. Blueberry crops are consolidating as a real alternative business as most of the production is exported. The export season of this fruit starts in September and estimates are that this year it will begin sooner than normal because of climatic conditions.
“We are entering a stage in which the province’s blueberry sector will start exporting strongly so we are working on preparing like every other year. The private sector has said that, by the end of this month, we should be starting the operation, which usually starts in October. This year operations will most probably start on September 20,” stated Fernando Martorell, from the promotion of exports department at IDEP.
“It is quite possible that the campaign starts a few days earlier because of the temperatures we’re having, but we need them to continue this way during the campaign months and not having rain or any other climate issue that may affect us,” he said.
According to Martorell, “this year, regarding the fruit, the private sector’s perspectives are good. We’ve had good weather so far, as there was no frost in the winter months. We are preparing all of the logistics, especially regarding the airport and all the control agencies.”
In this regard, he said, “we’ve been having regular meetings, not only with Customs, Senasa, and the USDA, but also with the Secretary of Labor. We also met with the deputy governor Juan Manzur, to discuss several issues and see how we could improve them in time.”
Regarding the expectations of the sector, he said: “Hopefully this year we can achieve a higher level of fruit volume. That will demand more work from us at the airport and we’ll find out if we can meet these demands.”
Finally, he said, “the operation is the same as in previous years, trying to get as much fruit from Tucuman to the United States and to the European Union, either by direct flights or via San Pablo, which has a greater redistribution to the European Union and the United States.”