According to the Chamber of Producers and Exporters of Pineapple (Canapep), Upala Agricola, Productos Agropecuarios Visa, Agromonte, and Acon became the first companies to export Costa Rican pineapples to the Chinese Market on Thursday June 1, when they shipped nine containers with nearly 15,210 boxes of pineapples to that market.
According to Canapep, the transport was contracted with an Asian company, which will perform all logistics controls, avoiding the rupture of the cold chain, as the trip will last 25 to 28 days, depending on the speed of the boat and other factors.
Abel Chaves, president of Canapep, said that they expected an increase in shipments in the next few days, as the Chinese government had authorized 20 companies to send pineapples to its territory.
The first exports of Costa Rican pineapples to China were made after obtaining the corresponding phytosanitary permits. The protocol for this was granted last March, after a process that began in 2011.
Chaves considered that the opening of the Chinese market for pineapples won't lead to a sharp increase in the Costa Rica's pineapple production area, which stands at nearly 43,000 hectares, according to the Agricultural Statistical Report of the Executive Secretariat of Sectorial Planning Agropecuaria (Sepsa).
According to Chaves, the opening of the Chinese market will stabilize prices during the year. The plantations undergo what people call a natural flowering in a part of the year, it is an effect that isn't induced and that is difficult to control, which affects the amount of fruit, the volume of exports, and prices. This usually takes place starting in June and lasting for two to three months.
The Chinese market will allow producers to place these additional volumes and will help control that price decline for part of the period, he said.
The president of the Chamber of Exporters of Costa Rica (Cadexco), Laura Bonilla, said that Costa Rica hadn't taken much commercial advantage during the six years of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China.
The guild celebrated the consolidation of pineapple exports and assured that it would continue to take advantage of its commercial opportunities in countries with a high potential, such as China.
Each of the containers sent to China on Thursday holds about 1,680 boxes of 12 kilos of pineapples, Chaves said. The Costa Rican shipment will arrive at the port of Shanghai, one of the strongest freight entrances to the Asian giant.
According to Canapep, Costa Rica will face the stiff competition from domestic production in China, the Philippines, Taiwan and other Southeast Asian countries that export the fruit. Costa Ricans expect to win market thanks to their fruit quality, but it is better to wait to see how consumers react the fruits, said Chaves.
He added that Latin American producers of the Golden variety (the one that Costa Rica produces and exports), such as Colombia and Panama, are waiting to see how Costa Rica's fruit does in China to initiate efforts to also place their product there.
Source: nacion.com