WASHINGTON: Fruit and vegetable exports between January and September this year fell by 22.6% when compared to the same period in 2014 because of the lower purchases from Brazil, Russia and Holland. According to a report of IES Consulting, fruit and vegetable exports in this period this year amounted to $860 million dollars and a volume of 1.13 million tons, i.e. 22.6% less in value and 9.9% less in volume than in the previous year.
Fruit exports declined by 22.4% and amounted to $603.3 million dollars because of a drop in their average export price and because of a 14% decline in the volume exported. Meanwhile, vegetable exports fell by 22.9% in value, to US $257 million, mostly due to lower average prices, as volumes only fell by 2% and totalled 417,000 tons.
“Foreign sales are affected by a combination of factors. The export business has been affected in recent years by the exchange rate appreciation and now it is also being affected by the unfavourable international context, given this year’s fall in average international prices of fruits (due to an abundant supply and the appreciation of the dollar),” stated the IES.
Additionally, exports have also been affected by the devaluation of the currencies of Argentina’s main buyers of fruit, such as Brazil and Russia, as this affected demand, and of the competing countries who were able to export at more competitive prices. “Furthermore, Argentinian exports also decreased because of the ban on apple and pear imports that Brazil applied to our country,” stated the IES.
The recovery of the productive sector this year (after the sharp fall caused by the drought and frost in the 2013/14 cycle) was overshadowed by the sector’s very low profitability, which caused producers not to harvest a significant percentage of various crops (mainly fruits).
Internal sale prices have dropped because of the oversupply caused by the difficulty in placing fresh products abroad and because of the lower exports of juices. In September, fruit sales in the Central Market grew by 13.8% and vegetable sales grew by 8.7% over the same period in 2014. The turnover obtained from fruit sales increased by 30.8% to $2,903.2 million and vegetable sales increased by 39.5%, to $3,117.2 million.
