With Argentina anticipating its pomegranate production to triple over the next three years, the industry’s suppliers have singled out the Northern Hemisphere’s lucrative counter-seasonal market as their key export destination. That’s the view of Horacio Raiman, who heads up Granadas de los Andes – the first Argentinean company to specialise 100 per cent in the still exotic-classified fruit.
'There are probably no more than 100ha of pomegranates entering commercial production across Argentina today, and all are at distinctly different levels of advancement,' Mr Raiman tells Fruitnet.com. 'For instance, in San Juan – where the majority of production is based – some 200ha have been planted since 2008. And that figure is projected to rise significantly in the next three years to at least 600ha.'
New companies entering the business will be the driving force of this production growth, according to Mr Raiman, with at least four pomegranate growers due to set up operations in San Juan, Córdoba and Salta by 2012.
That said, Mr Raiman claims his firm Granadas de los Andes (Pomegranates from the Andes) is currently the most advanced group in Argentina to specialise 100 per cent in the fruit. 'Of course there are other companies in the country who are producing pomegranates at the moment, but only as a secondary crop and on a very small scale,' he points out.
Since most planting projects started as recently as 2008 and 2009, the Argentinean pomegranate industry finds itself predominantly in the planning or recently planted stage. Indeed, San Juan-based Granadas de los Andes has just 75ha and its first commercial harvest will only get underway in February/March 2011, when Mr Raiman hopes to produce the first 400 tonnes of the Wonderful variety.
And with trial harvests already producing good quality fruit, the company is planning to expand its planted area to 150ha by 2012, by which point the group aims to account for 15 per cent of national production.
As for the marketing side of the business, Mr Raiman says the company found “strong demand” for Wonderful pomegranates at the Fruit Logistica trade show this year. With that in mind, he is particularly keen to penetrate the Northern Hemisphere market during the region’s counter-season.
'The European Union and the US are looking like the best export markets for us in the sense that Granadas de los Andes offers a product which meets the quality standards demanded by these regions,' he says. 'In Europe specifically, we see opportunities in countries like Germany, the UK, Italy and the Netherlands, as well as Russia. Both demand and prices have already shown to be high in Europe and Russia.
'Pomegranates are still considered as an 'exotic' fruit so we realise that our main markets are going to be those where purchasing power is average to high,' Mr Raiman continues. 'Although concrete supply programmes have yet to be secured, we’re currently studying the various channels of distribution and markets with a view to establishing long-term commercial relationships.'
Established in January 2008, Granadas de los Andes produces Wonderful pomegranates from seeds developed in Israel. In the last couple of years, the group has dedicated the bulk of its efforts to developing its trees, expanding planted area, ensuring food safety and training its workforce. As a result, Granadas de los Andes is well on its way to securing GlobalGAP certification for both its facilities and processes. The company has also started to breed its own pomegranate rootstocks at certified nurseries for future plantings.
