Newly-released figures have shown that Russia is leading the way in imports of apples from Argentina's Patagonia region this year, bringing in some 58,600 tonnes through the first nine months of the year.
According to figures published on Fruticultura Sur and reported by Fruit-Inform, Russia also imported a large volume of Patagonia-grown pears between January-September – 109,400 tonnes – making it the second largest importer behind Brazil (132,400 tonnes).
Total topfruit exports from the region increased 35 per cent year-on-year for the nine-month period, with overall apple export volumes up 31 per cent to 206,634 tonnes, while there was growth in value terms of 37 per cent to US$167.3m.
Overall pear shipments rose 19 per cent to 459,016 tonnes in volume terms, and 34 per cent to US$399.6m in value.
