Entrepreneurs, producers and officials will meet again today.
The fruit chain will have to wait until this afternoon to see if there will be any measures to address the sector's crisis. According to rumours, there is a draft with measures that would help the production in Rio Negro, Neuquén and other regional economies.
Yesterday, there was an intense meeting between the chief of staff, Jorge Capitanich, Rio Negro's governor, Alberto Weretilneck, Senator, Miguel Pichetto, and other representatives of the provinces, exporters, producers and members of the juice industry. Several alternatives were explored at the meeting but no conclusion was reached so they decided to meet again today at the Casa Rosada.
"The harvest will be endangered if there are no short-term solutions because the numbers just don't add up," warned one grower present during the negotiations.
A possible solution would be a contingency fund for the primary production suitable for making juice. The fund would be of nearly 500 million pesos, but the sector aspires to get a subsidy for twice that value. Moreover, the Government committed to negotiate the removal of the Russian tariff on fruit imports for a year with the Russian Ambassador to Argentina. However, there is no certainty about how long that negotiation would take.
One point in which they will insist, especially to the cameras, is the one-year suspension of the deductions (which for pears and apples are 5%), a concession that was made on the fly, said Pichetto.
Another point being debated is the funding through preferential rates agreed between the national and the provincial governments. However, not everyone is optimistic about this possibility. "Who will ask for a loan when we have nowhere to place our production?" said Victor Pardo, vice president of the Federation of Producers.
A wave of speculation about the content of this afternoon's announcement stirred among those who attended the meeting yesterday. "The situation is urgent, they'll have to find some sort of solution."
A senior source in the province stated the President herself would make the announcement, as the situation that some regional economies and the viticulture sector are facing in the international context is complex.
A spokesman for CAME said he doubted the government would deliver new funds and that he considered it almost impossible that there should be some kind of devaluation.
Moreover, the workers of packing facilities, ice, and juice makers are meeting on Friday at the Ministry of Labour to negotiate a union responsibility deal that would allow them to postpone the payment of employer contributions for a while.
Source: Diario Río Negro