It's been a few weeks since consumers can find fruits from other countries on the shelves devoted to regional fruits. This trend is even more pronounced in the supermarkets in Santa Fe, the federal capital, and in the north of the province of Buenos Aires. Among other fruits, consumers can find oranges from Mexico and Spain; kiwis, stonefruit, and apples from Chile; pineapples from Central America, and tropical fruits from Brazil. Until recently it was not common to find some imported items, but the import basket has increased, especially in recent days.
Several companies began importing fruit to place them in the local domestic market, something that was almost unthinkable up until late last year.
There are two distinct reasons for this new scenario. The first reason is that, currently, import licenses are authorized in less than 48 hours. In the previous government, obtaining the authorization for an import license could take a long time, as they could remain in the Ministry of Commerce for years.
The second reason is the lack of citrus caused by the weather issues that have affected the NEA and NOA, which has led to a shortage of oranges in the local market. The little fruit there is has exorbitant prices and businesses are trying to regularize this situation with the entry of imported supply.
"We are importing oranges from Spain through an agreement with a supermarket so that fruit can be sold in the region," confided an important businessman from the Valley who preferred to remain anonymous.
The same thing is happening with the apples but, for now, to a lesser extent. According to most of the regional executives that were consulted, imports could increase in the second half of the year, when there's no more poor quality fruit in the market. "There is 30% less red apple stored in cold storage now than there was in previous years. However, there still is a lot of poor quality fruit that are pulling prices down in the market," the source stated. Once the low quality apple is completely sold, there will only be low volumes of good quality apples and they will have much higher prices.
Currently, a kilo of high quality apple in the supermarkets in Buenos Aires can cost up to 60 pesos. A record historical value compared to any variable. However, this offer only represents 20% of the apples in the market. The rest of the apple can be bought for less than 40 pesos per kilo. The paradox is that, in this context, non-integrated producers only received a little over 2 pesos per kilo of apples for their harvest in March.
According to sources, several trucks of apples from Chile that will be placed in the market at Rosario have already entered the country. Those apples would be priced at less than 40 pesos per kilo. Large supermarket chains are negotiating with the industry of the neighboring country to make massive imports of fruit starting May, when there will be a decrease in supply that will be felt on the shelves.
"We are aware of this possibility. That's why we are requesting the national Government to request reference prices to the products being imported, just like our exporters are required to do," said Marcelo Loyarte, manager of CAFI . The executive said that the competition between local apples and imported apples in the second half of the year could complicate things for the local industry.
