The regional authorities of Rio Negro have rejected a proposal by the Argentine government for the province’s fruit exports to be shipped in containers via the port of Buenos Aires, claiming it would increase costs and be a “death sentence” for the Rio Negro port of San Antonio Este.
The proposal was put by Horacio Tettamanti, Argentina’s sub secretary of ports and shipping routes to Alberto Diomedi, representative of the Río Negro fruit producers industry during a recent meeting between the regional and national authorities and fruit producers.
The Río Negro government said in a statement that it has struggled to restore the competitiveness of the fruit industry, which forms a central pillar of the local economy and has been seriously eroded in recent years by macroeconomic circumstances and adverse climatic events.
It urged the government to carry out a cost analysis of the proposed measure, pointing out that any increase would further reduce the competitiveness of the region’s fruit on international markets.
Around 60 per cent of the province’s fruit exports are currently shipped by container. The Port of San Antonio Este is 400km from the main fruit producing area of Alto Valle, while Buenos Aires is 1,200km away.
