Carlos Fraschini, president of the Union of Uruguayan Producers and Exporters of Fruits (Upefruy) said on Saturday that they had to find a way to get the economic resources to renew 50% of their citrus crops.
The businessman spoke about the internal scenario of the citrus industry in the coming years and said that production in Uruguay would continue to be expensive and that, "there will be a shortage of human resources, limited access to long term credit and higher interest rates, but there will be progress in social integration."
During an activity at INIA in Salto Grande, the president of Upefruy said that they had recovered the plantations that had been affected by the frost in June 2012, and that there was a turnaround in the value of the Uruguayan currency and greater opportunities to place their fruit in the U.S.
Fraschini said that the shipments of Late Valencia orange to the U.S. had passed from only two containers last year, once they opened the American market, to two hundred containers so far in this citrus harvest. He then added that their "greatest opportunity is to place the fruit in the U.S."
The businessman stated that, "the export sector was in crisis in 2008 and Uruguay depended on the European Union, as they placed 70% of their exports there. The high costs of production and export affected competitiveness and our high debt restricted investment."
At that time, Fraschini said, we concluded the business was viable and our challenge was to re-launch it by increasing exports. In 2010, he recalled, a Strategic Plan was launched and the important thing in 2014 is "to structure the public-private effort and define the tools that will drive that process."
At the beginning of his speech, Fraschini said the citrus industry occupied 17,000 hectares and creates 17,000 jobs, 75% of which are seasonal.
"It is a relatively small sector, but it is qualified and socially important because it gives a job to one person per hectare," said the businessman. Fraschini said the citrus industry has over forty years exporting experience and "international recognition for the quality of our fruit." The sector has also responded well to the new safety requirements.
The president of Upefruy said the citrus sector was "an integrated industry, which makes production viable. Expansion can only come from the export of fresh fruit. The main objective is to develop a sustainable citrus industry."
Source: El Observador