The president of the Tucuman's Citrus Association, Roberto Sanchez Loria, stated that Argentina would send a first symbolic shipment of lemons to the United States in the first days of June, to celebrate the entry into force of the lifting of the restriction on citrus imports from Argentina.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (Aphis / USDA) made effective the authorization for the entry of lemons from Northwest Argentina, as agreed at the end of April, at a meeting held by Presidents Donald Trump and Mauricio Macri in Washington.
"Today is the day set for the elimination of the restriction for the import of lemons," stated Roberto Sanchez Loria, adding that they were planning to send a small symbolic shipment of citrus to the United States in the first days of June.
"This a way to express that we are moving away from the bureaucratic part of exporting lemons to the actually doing of it," Sanchez Loria said on Friday.
The manager said that they would ship 5 or 6 pallets, each with 70 boxes; one of which would be sent by plane.
"This shipment isn't important from the commercial point of view, but it has a symbolic importance," he said.
Tucuman will only start exporting strong volumes of lemons to the United States in April 2018, by sea, as Tucuman's new production will be available from that date.
Sanchez Loria said they didn't know how many tons they would export to the US, but said that he was sure that "the first quantities will be small because everything has to do with the development of the business from the private point of view."
"We have to have people receiving the product in the United States, which means we must establish business, just like we've done in other countries, little by little and growing every year," said the director.
In Argentina, around 132,000 hectares of land are destined for the production of lemon, and Tucuman accounts for 84% of this area, according to official data.
This province has about 10 million citrus plants distributed in 38,000 hectares of its territory. In 2016, the region exported 275,000 tons of lemon, generating revenues of US $357,500,000.
Under this new context, in 2019 Tucuman plans to export to the United States about 20,000 tons of fresh lemon fruit, generating income of about US $ 26 million.
The United States officially stated that it authorized the entry of fresh lemons coming from Argentina on May 26 this year. Thus, putting an end to the ban it had imposed on this product 16 years ago.
In early March, the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Plant and Animal Inspection Service (Aphis) stated that the extension to the opening for the entrance of Argentine lemons would come to an end on May 26.
Lemon producers estimate that the North American market will initially represent around 20,000 tons per year, a figure equivalent to 10% of total Argentine exports.
In its official communication, Aphis stated that Argentina's imports can only be made through the ports of the North-East of the United States in the commercial cycle 2017/2018.
Source: laprensa.com.ar