Lemon exporting companies have set their sights on Asian markets. They focused all their logistics and management efforts towards these markets, driven by the expectations that new winds of foreign trade have generated.
"In terms of volumes, Southeast Asia is a marginal market but we have the quality to meet its demand. While it involves a struggle to position our product, we believe our fruit is adequate and maintains a high quality standard," emphasized Francisco Rotella, the sales manager of Citrusvil and director of All Lemon, the export certification seal.
With that in mind, representatives of All Lemon, a firm composed of Argentine citrus companies will participate at Asia Fruit Logistica. Asia Fruit Logistica, one of the world's most important fairs for the sector, will be held between September 7 and 9 in Hong Kong.
"There are great expectations for the fair that will be held in Hong Kong because of the connection it has to the markets in Southeast Asia, which are Tucuman's major challenge," emphasized Walter Ojeda, sales director at San Miguel, a company that integrates the certification firm.
"Lemon consumption is increasing in this world region. We want to be the providers," said Fabricio Trapani, from the same company.
Entrepreneurs and executives of local companies will then travel to Russia to be in the WorldFood Moscow event, which will be held in Moscow from March 12 to the 15. For the private citrus sector it is another international benchmark that assesses the position of Argentina's agricultural business on the global stage.
"We'll go together as All Lemon. These fairs have a business environment where the members of All Lemon will be able to meet and deal with our customers. It is a place that serves to evaluate the product's quality and the market conditions. The fairs in Hong Kong and Moscow allow each company to close their numbers and define the results of the campaign," said Ojeda.
Performing tests for Japan
The intention of entering new places in the Far East also includes Japan. Moreover, some companies are testing the quality of their products and the export conditions to possibly return to Japan next year.
"We had that market years ago, but given the cold conditions we had to comply with for quarantine measures (removal of insects and diseases), our lemons faced many problems. We had to stop our exports to that area because of the transit time, which lasted between 40 and 45 days, and the low temperatures in that area," said the manager of San Miguel.
The citrus companies exported lemons to Japan for the last time in 2005. "We are currently conducting a test to see if the fruit is resistant to the new conditions that Japan has for importing citrus. Based on this trial, we will determine whether we export the fruit or if we will negotiate new cold conditions next year," said Ojeda.
Citrus producers also highlighted the possibility of returning to the US (a process that is in its administrative definition stage) and opening up the markets of India and Brazil. However, they stated, that they had more expectations for the Asian markets.
Source: infocampo.com.ar