At the request of Tucuman's Strawberry Chamber, the provincial government is working to assist the sector to open negotiations to recover the General System of Preferences (GSP) in the US. This is an initiative of governor Juan Manzur, who hopes that the strawberry can enter the US market without paying tariffs.
The Ministry of Productive Development and International Relations Secretariat is working with producers and representatives of packaging and processing plants in the province. During a visit to Lules, the Undersecretary of International Relations, Virginia Avila, was received by Nicolas Paz Posse, the representative of the firm La Loma del Aconquija, to discuss the status of the negotiations and to tour the crops.
During the meeting, Avila said that, thanks to the work of the Governor, they had been able to start negotiating the export of Tucuman strawberries to the US market with US authorities. She also said that winning back this market would generate a greater production for the province. The talks will take several years, but in 2016 the Province strengthened relations with the US and it has been working with the agricultural department of Argentina's Embassy in Washington.
In this context, they held meetings in the framework of the American Frozen Food Convention (Affi). These meetings allowed Tucuman's strawberry sector to stay informed about the latest marketing trends.
She also said that they had made the presentations to the SGP late last year, which involved a joint effort between the public and private sector to protect Tucuman's packaging. "Among the various Argentine exports, strawberries, which were affected by the global economic crisis, lost the SGP in 2012," she said.
Since the United States was the main market for this fruit, the Province and the Ministry of Industry are working to find common ground with US commercial chambers. "We find it very encouraging that the obstacles we had in previous years may be lifted. We know that the quality of the fruit is at the height of the main competitors: Mexico, Peru and Chile. We met with former importers who are eager to return to market our fruit again," she said.
Source: contextotucuman.com
