Argentina's Customs suspended the approval of the Advance Import Declarations (DJAI) from last Thursday, a fundamental requirement affecting the importation of bananas from Bolivia, informed Befrut company entrepreneur, Roger Mérida.
Argentina is the main market for Bolivian bananas, absorbing 95 percent of the total production of the tropical variety.
Furthermore, it is also one of the main markets for pineapple, though in smaller amounts.
Merida stated that the Argentinean Customs did not allocate the DJAI to about 80 percent of Argentine importers of bananas, which would mean that in Bolivia almost 70 percent of the producers would be affected.
"We have asked the government to solve this problem so it doesn't affect banana producers in Bolivia," said the businessman who hopes that the Foreign Ministry contacts its Argentinean counterpart and that the current bilateral agreements are respected.
Banana production in Chapare, Bolivia's largest producer of tropical bananas, produces about 4,000 direct and 6,000 indirect jobs.
According to the projections of the banana producers, at least 70 percent of producers would be affected by the new restrictions.
The Argentinean government has applied restrictions to imports since the first months of 2011.
Argentina is a major market for banana and pineapple that Bolivia produces.
It is the second time the Bolivian banana growers have been adversely affected by import restrictions in Argentina, since in June last year they declared themselves in a state of emergency before the weekly loss of $150,000 due to the policy of import restriction that has ruled Argentina since late 2011.
Merida recalled that, in 2012, the Argentine government ruled that they should export the same value that they import.
From February 1, 2012, the Argentinean Customs implemented the DJAI system and trade restrictions began increasing, culminating with the ban on the entry of bananas in June last year.
