Argentina has, in many ways, always been a country of vast contradictions. A nation of staggering natural beauty, every resource imaginable and some of the most creative and intelligent people anywhere, somehow successive governments have contrived to turn it from a country that should have been at the forefront of world affairs to one that is constantly on the verge of self-destruction.

Never have those contradictions been more apparent than today. Argentina has just got the first Latin American Pope, can boast the world’s best footballer, and yet stands staring into a financial abyss amid a row over currency exchange that is seriously hampering fruit exporters’ ability to trade internationally.

The current problems relate to a decision by domestic trade secretary Guillermo Moreno 18 months ago to control the amount of foreign currency leaving the country in a bid to keep the dollars needed to pay international debts. The restrictions have led to large-scale demonstrations in Buenos Aires, particularly among the middle and upper classes and businesspeople. For companies sending workers abroad, it has proven particularly problematic as they are unable to withdraw local currency from peso-based bank accounts, while those firms dealing in imports have been forced by the government to export an equivalent value of products overseas.

“The spirit of the regulation is okay in terms of trying to control the amount of foreign currency purchased, but it’s been very badly implemented,” one well-placed Argentinian media source told FPJ. “The Argentinian peso is worth less every day. The government is focused on the internal market, which is right, but the measures are not right for many people.”

Horror stories have emerged of individuals being sent to an official website to find out if they will be allowed to exchange money, before being confronted with defunct currency options such as the peseta and drachma, and asked to tick boxes to visit countries like Czechoslovakia. Users are then given a straight yes/no decision, with no explanation offered for the reasoning.

Predictably, a large foreign exchange black market has emerged, with individuals and businesses forced underground to get hold of dollars and other currencies. A sign of the times, even the black-market peso has slipped to a record low against the much-in-demand “blue [unofficial] dollar”, according to Reuters.

For the fruit industry, the situation is particularly problematic when it comes to the practicalities of trading with partners abroad. At Fruit Logistica in February, one senior Argentinian industry figure told FPJ she had been unable to withdraw cash upon arrival in Berlin. “It’s become very difficult,” she explained. “It’s expensive to buy boxes, fertilisers and so on, and we have to balance anything we import with the amount we export.”

Another supplier pointed an angry finger at Argentinian president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, accusing her of making it impossible for Argentinian companies to compete on the world stage. Last week her government raised a levy on credit card purchases abroad by five percentage points to 20 per cent.

It all makes for a challenging time for Argentina’s fresh produce industry. The country now has Pope Francis I to call its own, and the fruit industry might well be calling for a little divine intervention. —