The Tucumán Citrus Association (ATC) and the regional government of Tucumán have reportedly agreed to collaborate on a working agenda to lobby China to loosen its import protocol for Argentinean lemons.
The Chinese market currently demands that Argentina ships its citrus fruit at 2oC, which ATC claims is an “impossible requirement” for lemons since shipment at low temperatures causes damage to the fruit.
“The issue is that shipping sweet citrus at low temperatures doesn’t damage those fruits, but it greatly affects lemons, which means that a good proportion of the consignment arrives in a poor state,” ATC president Roberto Sánchez Loria told La Gaceta.
The import protocol is desgined to prevent the entry of fruit fly into China, although studies show that lemons (under normal conditions) are not a host for the insect, the report said.
During the first two weeks of September, Argentina’s Agricultural Attaché to China, Omar Odarda, will travel to Tucumán to see first-hand the production and export of lemons.
Tucumán’s Minister of Production Development Jorge Gassenbauer will also travel to China this month as part of a committee led by Argentina’s Minister of Agriculture Julián Domínguez.
