Argentinean pear production is expected to be 20 per cent down this season. According to Miguel Angel Miquel of the Argentinean fruit growers association, CAFI, “the reduction is due to several factors,” he said. “First, biannual bearing whereby a large crop one year is followed by a smaller crop the next due to the natural cycle of the trees. Second high temperatures in the weeks leading up to harvest have also reduced sizes somewhat. And third,winds have in some cases caused fruit of larger sizes to fall from trees.”
Williams has been the most affected variety and Mendoza, which sends most of its exports to Brazil, is the hardest hit region.
Nevertheless the harvest is running about a week ahead of averages for recent years because of favourably high temperatures. “We are expecting a crop of some 500,000 tonnes and exports similar to last year of about 300,000t,” Miquel told the Journal.
While the strength of the euro is good news for Argentinean senders to most countries in the EU, “that is also the case for our competitors,” Miquel warned. “And rising sea-freight rates, are particularly damaging to sendings to Russia, which became Argentina’s single largest export market last season.”
No comments yet