Volume of pears loaded from the port down significantly this season, despite Argentine exports rising overall
Pear exports from the Port of San Antonio Este in Argentina’s Río Negro province fell to historic lows this season. Between January and February, 16,618 pallets of fruit – equivalent to just over 19,200 tonnes – were loaded at the port, 37 per cent less than in the year-earlier period.
Pears, the most exported fruit from the region, saw shipments of just over 18,200 tonnes, a drop of almost 40 per cent on last year’s 30,000 tonnes. As reports in Más Producción, this represents a decrease of 45 per cent on the five-year average, adding to the climate of crisis that has befallen the region’s producers.
This is despite the fact that total Argentine pear exports increased in the first two months of the year and confirms the smaller role PSAE is playing in Argentina’s apple and pear export deal.
In early February it was announced that PSAE’s North Patagonia Port Terminal (TPPN) would go from receiving a ship on a weekly basis (or even more frequently) to a fortnightly service.
The move reflects the downward trend in fruit shipments passing through the port. According to TPPN figures, ship arrivals to the port have fallen by 80 per cent in the last 20 years, the equivalent of around 105 fewer ships.
