After Europe suspended the purchase of Argentine oranges due to the presence of the disease known as black spot, the producers criticized the measure and pointed to Spain for that decision. In addition, they calculated the economic impact of the closure of the European market at US $ 40 million.
“The immediate damage to the national citrus industry is difficult to measure, given that Only in the non-export of oranges are around 40 million dollars at stake and the same for the anticipated suspension of shipments of lemons. But towards the medium term, the damage is greater since the main foreign market for citrus fruits in Argentina, which is the European Union, is closed until May 2021, “warned Federcitrus, a national entity in the sector.
Then he pointed to Spain: “The attitude assumed by the citrus producers and exporters associations and the government of Spain, which have led to an unusual and arbitrary aggressiveness in Spanish ports, is very striking. in particular that of Cartagena, which was until last year the main destination of our citrus fruits “.
Yesterday, representatives of the Government and of the citrus exporters chambers met to seek a solution that would prevent the blockade from affecting NEA fruits. The virtual meeting was attended by Minister of Agriculture, Luis Basterra; the president of Senasa, Carlos Paz; the director of Economic Relations with Europe, Ivana Silva; the Argentine agricultural attaché, Gaston Funes; the president of Federcitrus, José Carbonell, and the director of the NEA Citrus Exporters Chamber, (Cecnea), Santiago Caprarulo.
“We seek to exclude the northeast of Argentina from this ban. We are trying to get them to let us finish doing our program for this season of the NEA oranges. The chances are slim, but we don’t already have it,” Caprarulo told THE NATION.
A month ago, after a meeting held by representatives of Senasa with Dorothée André, general director of Health and Food Safety of the European Commission, the decision had been made not to send more oranges to the ports of Spain due to the series of controls that it had removed that country for Argentine products. And, in the case of lemons, they were being shipped to other ports and countries in Europe so as not to directly affect the Spanish season. However, it would have irritated Spain if Argentine products continued to arrive.
“In July, Tucuman and Senasa made the decision not to send more oranges to those ports. Credibility has been lost because there are certain commitments that are assumed to have not been fully met. For the lemon it was said not to send more, but apparently they began to enter other countries through other ports. So they started sending Spanish controllers to other countries. That made them very angry because lemon entered before their season and it overlapped with income from our lemon, “said Caprarulo.
The conjectures that the sector made together with the Government in the virtual meeting that lasted about an hour is that the lemon made a “very loud commercial noise”. However, in the sector they say that “It was known that there was a high number of black spots” on the NOA oranges, and they had avoided sending more to avoid shipping problems.
Meanwhile, the mandarin is excluded from the measure. “Fortunately, it is excluded from this restriction because Europe is the largest market we have where we send the most sophisticated products,” said the director of Cecnea.
Before the ban on the entry of the Argentine orange was announced, Senasa sent a letter to the European Commission asking that the NEA be preserved of any measure that could prevent export.
From Chancellery confirmed to THE NATION that charge d’affaires in Europe They are working to ask for regionalization, that is, to differentiate the NEA from the NOA.
“What we do achieve is that we would have the possibility that what is in transit can enter two weeks later than what is scheduled,” he said. September 5 is the last flexibility date for the entry of oranges that are in transit or in the process of shipment, from that day, the NEA has two more weeks of permission.
Different sources consulted told LA NACION that the disease was mainly concentrated in two companies whose name was not released to preserve commercial integrity.
Given the lack of a European market, Argentina could focus on secondary markets such as Russia. “If we enter Russia” the sales “are produced at a lower price and much less money is earned,” they say in the sector.
“We inherited this problem and we suffer from it. It is unfair, but we are going to work together to solve it. We want to have a different status as NEA because for us that market is very important,” summed up the director of Cecnea. Meanwhile, Senasa reported that it is concerned that this measure has been influenced by claims that exceed the merely phytosanitary.
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