Argentina as a country has several challenges but this is not stopping the producer and exporter Grupo Prima from growing their apples and pears volumes in the Asian and other markets. According to Marcelo Galardini, Commercial director of Grupo Prima, in Argentina: “We are growing in Asia and China. Argentina’s macroeconomics is a little bit challenging. Sometimes it is good and sometimes it is bad.”
Nicolas Bonavento and Marcelo Galardini.
Galardini says they have several business units where they produce and pack pears, apples and kiwi’s from the Río Negro province in Argentina that is marketed all over the world. They manage and own 1,500 hectares that is already fully planted, with some more hectares to be planted in the future with new varieties. “We also run five packing facilities for different varieties and in different locations. Depending on the season and factors such as the weather and the total crop the volume we handle between 75,000 to 85,000 tons. In the Middle East we are the leading apple and pear export from Argentina.”
He says they have an association with other Argentinian growers, which adds additional hectares and volumes to their exports. “We have a long term relationship with them sharing our knowledge etc. They trust their fruit in our hands to market it in different markets worldwide.”
“Our core markets are Europe as the most important, then comes the U.S. while Russia is still important and then Latin America is a huge market for us too. Because of our distance from this market, Asia has some other sources. We are trying to establish our brand here. We have been very successful in the past five years to introduce our fruit in China especially. We are trying to keep growing. We export to India, Singapore and other destinations too.”
Navigating Argentina’s currency and inflation challenges
“The most important factor to face the current situation in Argentina, I think that basically you need the knowledge in the team both commercial and financial. Because we understand the situation, we know how to handle it. We’ve been in this situation 10 and 20 years ago. The team is very professional, they know how to deal with it and in a way that does not make the company suffer that much. We take advantage of the opportunities. In some cases when the currency devaluates it’s good for us, we use that in our favour. Then off course the inflation is not nice. We are seeing it is growing worldwide and the consequences of that. Argentina’s inflation is much higher, but we are trying to control the cost, keep an eye on that very strictly in order to keep costs at a reasonable level to keep our competitiveness against other origins,” explains Galardini.
He says he was surprised by the Asia Fruit Logistica show in Hong Kong this year, the quality of visitors from across Asia and high level of meetings were really good for them. “The last time we were here in 2019, it is very different now. The size and quantity of exhibitors is on a level with what we seen in Europe,” concludes Galardini.
For more information:
Marcelo Galardini
Grupo Prima
Tel: +54 9 2984 66 9292
Email: mgalardini@pft.co.ar