At the end of the commercial season, external sales totaled just over 4,700 tons, reflecting a 12% drop compared to the 2021/2022 period. On the other hand, Chile has once again achieved a new sales record.
Argentine cherry exports reached 4,740 tons this season, a figure that reflects a year-on-year drop of 121 TP3T and 221 TP3T when relating this volume to the 2020/2021 period.
The data is not neutral. The expectations that existed regarding the development of this type of activity in northern Patagonia remained positive until not long ago. Its potential was enormous. However, the negative economic-financial context that the country is going through - which has been in place for several years now - closes off any possibility of growth for this noble product that is in high demand at a global level.
The evolution of Argentine cherry production and exports supports this concept. For a decade now, the activity has shown lukewarm increases and falls in production, without a clear trend, contrary to what occurs in other countries with this same product.
"The observed declines in exports this season are directly related to the climatic problems experienced by cherry farms throughout the country's production area," said Aníbal Caminiti, manager of the Argentine Chamber of Integrated Cherry Producers (CAPCI), partly justifying the trends reflected in the product's foreign trade.
But private statistics show that, regardless of the climate, the activity has not seen any growth in its planted area for ten years now. There are some isolated projects, such as the one currently underway by the Kleppe firm in the Roca area, but these are only marginal plans.
"It is very difficult for an activity that needs years to recover the investment to work in a country where macroeconomic variables present enormous distortions," Caminiti told LMNeuquén.
At this point, we must not forget to mention the lack of competitiveness shown by exports, a product of the existing exchange rate lag (the activity receives a dollar of 205 pesos against the 390 pesos that it is on the market) and the high production costs that exist. A symptom that is not only the power of the cherry; in general, this same diagnosis can be given in all the regional economies of the country.
A recent study carried out by the chamber details that Chubut became the main cherry exporting province in 2022/2023, displacing Río Negro, which until last season led the ranking in volumes traded abroad, but whose exports fell by 45% in just two years.
The aforementioned work, led by Anibal Caminiti, also highlights that the People's Republic of China was the main market, receiving 321 TP3T of the exported volume, followed by the United States with 311 TP3T, Spain close to 101 TP3T, the United Kingdom 81 TP3T, the United Arab Emirates 61 TP3T and Singapore with 31 TP3T.
The study adds that Argentina's exportable share maintains a balanced distribution across the different international regions, slightly increasing its shipments to the Asian market by 371 TP3T, while its share in the USA and Canada decreased to 321 TP3T, and stabilized at 211 TP3T for the European Union and Great Britain, and 81 TP3T in the Middle East.
Source: LMNeuquén
