Next season, Argentinian mandarin and orange producers will face a 'negative profitability', with serious oversupply issues that may lead to a collapse of domestic prices and the costs tied to inflation, as well as with the inability to alleviate their situation due to the aggressive marketing of supermarkets and the lack of exports.
This negative scenario was presented to the news agency DyN by Julio Jaime, of the Federation of Citrus Producers of Entre Rios (Fecier), who explained the "extremely complex" situation affecting this productive sector, which works on a total of around 130,000 hectares in Northern Argentina.
"The next mandarin and orange harvest starts in 20 to 30 days and the profitability is negative; moreover, the current government measures are not considered a real solution to the problems affecting the sector," explained Jaime, who believes that "the difficult situation for exporters, together with the inability to sell fruit in an oversupplied domestic market, as well as the low purchasing power of consumers, will all translate into a tough year."
He added that oranges have an average production cost of 1.5$ and the prices offered at origin don't exceed 1$.
Asked about the tasks ahead for the sector, Jaime acknowledged the need for loans to develop the activity. "Loans are currently very expensive and impossible to cover, with rates ranging from 30% to 40%. It would be necessary to have those replaced by interest rates tied to prices," he claimed.
The private sector' has highlighted the need for a reference price, taking into account the rising costs of freight, as well as for mechanisms to finance the payment of social security contributions.
It is also considered essential to speed up the negotiations for the improvement of trade relations, not only to alleviate the impact of the fall in markets like Brazil and Russia, but also to become more competitive against other producers, such as South Africa.
