Marco Rivoira is the manager of a leading group within this sector and he stated, “The European Union should take Chile as an example when it comes to stipulating fruit and vegetables free trade agreements”. According to the manager, Chile actualizes agreements on the basis of the ‘mirror method’, which indicates a full reciprocity in terms of giving and receiving.
“Chile does not open its borders for the import to any third country that does not allow Chile to do the same. I think this is totally fair”. Rivoira pointed out the completely different situation within EU, “It is just nonsense that EU signs agreements for the importing and then leaves every single country to handle the exporting on its own”.
That the ‘game is not fair’ is demonstrated by the value of a dry cargo container during the journey from China to Italy and vice versa. “When it gets here, the container’s value is 3.000 dollars. However, when it later leaves it is only 400 dollars. Why? Because the container it is full of goods when it gets here, whereas it is completely empty when it goes back – with definitely different transportation costs.
Regarding the apple market, Marco Rivoira stated, “The drop in the prices is caused by the overabundant offer coming from some European countries – Poland above all. However, Poland can also export to China, while we Italians cannot and we do not even know when that will happen”.