Cherries from Neuquen that are exported to the Asian market will be able to enter the Chinese market directly without paying tariffs and without passing through Hong Kong once the technical organisations of both countries finish negotiating the entry protocol for this product.
Gov. Omar Gutierrez said that they had started working on a protocol so that cherry exports can enter directly into China without having to be sent to Hong Kong, from where they are re-imported, and that he expected the barrier to be eliminated by the next harvest.
Gutierrez was part of Argentina's official delegation in President Macri's visit to China. President Macri met with President Xi Jinping in Beijing, where they signed integration agreements to increase the country's trade.
Unlike Chile, Argentina can't export its cherries directly to China and is charged tariffs on this product because both countries don't have a sanitary protocol for the entry of this fruit. As a result, Argentina exports its cherries by air to Hong Kong, from where they are sent to China, increasing their price by an additional 2%.
"We have invited the Chinese to invest in Neuquén, we've found a lot of predisposition and we've begun to move forward in a mutual relationship," Gutierrez said, adding that they should be able to export cherries directly to China in the next harvest, once the protocol is completed. He said that some products, such as chicken and prawns, could already enter China without paying tariffs.
Diversification
Gutierrez spoke about diversifying the economy by opening new markets for the country's local production. The number of hectares devoted to cherry production in the province increased by 47% from 2015 to 2016, going from 223 to 328 hectares. Meanwhile, the acreage in Rio Negro, which has a more productive culture, only increased by 14.9%, as it went from 383 to 440 hectares with a strong concentration in the native land of Ceferino Namuncura.
"We need to open new markets and China is the world's largest consumer market; a country with which we have a deficit trade balance," he said. "Economic diversification and social development will allow the province to have a structural an integral growth."
Argentinian cherries can achieve good prices in the Chinese market if they enter the country before the Chilean cherries.
Source: rionegro.com