By the end of the first seven months of the year, regional exports of concentrated juices through the port of San Antonio (SAE) amounted to 10,764 pallets (i.e. 17,260 tons).
According to the statistics released by the port terminal of Patagonia Norte, this volume is 23% lower than in the same period last year and it is also the lowest volume embarked in the last two decades for this important activity.
The industry concentrated in the Valley region is very important. It concentrates an average demand of 500,000 tons of fruit per year that are intended for grinding, a volume that is higher than the volume that is currently sold fresh.
This sector has an annual turnover of 80 million dollars, about 90% of which comes from foreign trade and the remaining 10% from local sales.
The juice concentrate industry appeared towards the end of the 70s as an alternative for all the apple that could not be placed on the fresh market because of the serious quality problems it had. Then, following the same logic, the industry started to develop pear juice. In the second half of the 80s the juice industry absorbed about 60% of the harvest from the Valley of Rio Negro and Neuquen through a dozen companies that were distributed in key production areas in the region.
The 90s was complex for this sector, but it was from 2007 that many companies could no longer compete against the hostility of the system. Currently, there are six firms that sold their products in San Antonio, but only two account for 84% of total exports, and the first three account for 98% of exports.
Context
The sharp drop faced by the concentrated juice industry is mainly due to the competition there is in foreign markets, which has had a toll on final prices, and to the high domestic production costs.
"A lot of the fruit stayed in the plants this season. It wasn't harvested because the industry could not afford the prices demanded by farmers," confided a business source who preferred to remain anonymous. The executive said there were no fixed prices or funding for this type of activity, which further complicated the situation.
The organic concentrated juice industry is showing another trend. "In recent seasons, there's been a strong demand on this market segment. However, it's still a very low proportion regarding what the regional industry currently moves," said the source.
According to private sources, producers of organic apple were paid two to three pesos per kilo of fruit this season, a similar price than what many producers charged for the fresh market.
