“As is also happening in several non EEC markets, Europe is still demanding the Brazilian fruit - even if they are due after Oct 15th, when the import duty is sharply increased. Unfortunately, the reduced volumes this season doesn't allow us to continue with shipments to Europe after departure in week 38. However, the European market is receptive and many importers are pushing for additional volume”, says Carlos Amorim from Cutrale.
He continues: “As usual, the European market will receive more than 75% of our total export volume, but gradually we see an interesting growth in our export volume of fresh lemon and oranges to non EEC customers especially in the Middle East, Ukraine and Russia for example.”
In terms of phytosanitary issues Cutrale is performing very well, explains Carlos. “We have exported a good volume of fresh lemon (Eureka variety) and fresh Oranges (Navel & Valencia variety) and so far we had only one container of fresh lemon rejected by CBS suspicions, accounting for less than 0.2% of the total volume of our fresh citrus shipments.”
“As the season isn’t over yet, I can’t predict if Cutrale will finish the campaign 2016 with this single case. But it does indicate that all the measures we are taking to avoid any phytosanitary rejection in the campaign, has paid off. I have no doubts that this is the result of a lot of efforts, high technology and continuous care.
According to Carlos, a few weeks ago Brazilian fresh limes faced hard times in Europe, most specifically in the UK, due to phytosanitary issues and this has negatively impacted the whole Brazilian citrus chain. It was a motivation for a huge movement among Brazilian Government authorities and Brazilian fresh citrus exporters to detect why it happened and take the necessary corrective actions.
“In general all worldwide import markets are quite strict in terms of quality. Besides a smaller orange season could bring some extra difficulties to meet the contracted volumes agreed with our regular customers. Yet, during almost 30 weeks we didn’t stop shipments or change the quality of our fresh fruit. That’s why we see the 2016 fresh fruit campaign so positively”, concludes Carlos - positively.
For more information: Carlos Jose Amorim - Export Manager
Sucocitrico Cutrale Ltda.
T: +55 16 3301 1144
E: amorim@cutrale.com.br
www.cutrale.com.br