A week ago a delegation of Argentina's government met in Washington with officials of the administration of Donald Trump to advance in the commercial exchange of several products, including meat (which according to sources from the government of Mauricio Macri could start in a few months) and lemons to the American market.
The Minister of Agricultural industry, Ricardo Buryaile, said that Argentina would ship its lemons to the United States in the next harvest. Starting 2018, Argentina will also start exporting lemons to another important regional market: Mexico.
The commercial efforts of Argentina under the Macri government are beginning to show results, in a process that usually takes years and where international competition does not give way, such as expanding the country's participation in foreign markets.
In the case of lemons, Argentina's production already has a significant presence in the European Union and Eastern European countries, which now account for 90% of lemon exports.
However, the recent trade agreements and the elimination of the use of EOR (Export Operations Registry) as a barrier to exports of agricultural products from December 2015 expanded the horizon for the national fruit and vegetable production.
Argentina, which is the world's ninth-largest citrus producer, is the biggest lemon producer with 1.7 million tons per year and 20.4% of world production, followed by Spain and the United States.
Argentina is also the leading exporter of lemon derivatives and the second global exporter of fresh lemon after Mexico. Tucuman accounts for 85% of the country's lemons, which are grown on 50,000 hectares.