The Ministry of Economy, the ProMendoza Foundation, and Asocamen (the Association of Producers, Packers, and Exporters of Garlic, Onions, and Similar Products from Mendoza) seek to reinforce the arrival of garlic in Brazil.
The head of the Association raised the need to strengthen the control bodies to avoid any type of unfair competition in the foreign sector. Specifically, Fabian Fusari Duin proposed advancing a phytosanitary certificate of origin similar to the one used for citrus fruits. He also requested that the cargo leaving Mendoza be inspected.
According to the latest report of the Rural Development Institute (IDR), in the last year, Mendoza had 13,300 hectares planted with garlic (based on data up to November), i.e. 17% or almost 1,950 hectares more than in the previous cycle.
However, Asocamen estimates that, based on what has already been sown, the 2023 harvest will be 20% to 25% smaller than in the previous season, and that there could also be losses of 20%. “Producers have sown less and each hectare will deliver less volume because producers have found it difficult to buy the organic matter that is used as fertilizer and that is very important at the beginning of the production cycle,” Fusari added.
80% of Mendoza's garlic is exported to Brazil. That's why producers expect to ensure that the best product is sent at a price that is profitable for all actors in the garlic chain.
Measures to improve the price of garlic in Brazil
According to the Association, the province's garlic sector faces two situations that end up lowering prices in the Brazilian market: on the one hand, foreign companies that find mechanisms to generate business in the national territory and that just want to take the money without leaving any income for the country (cold companies); and, on the other hand, the smuggling of garlic bags.
Both cases affect the price paid to producers because the market is flooded with a production that cut costs -by not paying taxes or export permits -, which allows them to lower prices.
Source: mendoza.gov.ar