Blueberries: US move averted losses of nearly $ 30 million for Argentina

After a complaint from American growers regarding alleged damage caused by Argentinian blueberries in this market, The United States International Trade Commission (Usitc) determined that the domestic fruit posed no threat to US industry and production and that the product could be positioned normally. Argentina sends between 6 and 7 million kilos to this destination, for which it receives around $ 30 million per year.

The positive decision was made thanks to the intervention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which suggested to Joe Biden’s office not to recommend the imposition of a safeguard measure which protects the industry of this country to the detriment of the national .

A few months ago, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, Chile and Peru were temporarily affected by a complaint that American producers had filed about products coming in from those countries which they claim , damaged local fruits. Faced with this complaint, the countries concerned have created a commission to analyze the situation and avoid bankruptcy.

“A group of producers from these countries was formed to explain that there was no injury, because none of the measures to which they referred were justified. They wanted to impose measures ranging from a quota to a tariff and either of the two would have been very harmful to Argentinian fruits, ”he said. Alexander Pannunzio, President of the Argentine Association of Blueberry Producers in Mesopotamia (Apama).

Yes indeed, Usitc determined that there was no such injury and the producers in that country could not demonstrate the threat or the alleged injury that the Argentinian fruits had caused during the local harvest. Pannunzio pointed out that Argentinian blueberries were an off-season for fruits from the United States and therefore did not affect the merchandise from that country, nor did products from other affected countries. “It may happen that other countries, like Mexico, that supply overlaps local production and they see it as a threat,” he said.

The intervention of the chancellery

As the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed to this media outlet, the management of this portfolio and the embassy before the United States International Trade Commission prevented the measure from affecting blueberry exports. The diplomatic portfolio has decided not to recommend to President Joe Biden the imposition of a safeguard measure that protects that country’s industry.

A decision is a “measure of great importance” for the blueberry production industry, in particular for the economies of the provinces of Tucumán, Salta and Catamarca, which account for 40% of production, as well as Entre Ríos, Corrientes, Misiones and Buenos Aires, emphasized in a statement from the portfolio of Felipe Solá.

“We are working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to show a very good performance. This has helped us enormously with the support of the producers who finance these actions, ”Pannunzio said.

90% of the national blueberry production is exported and the rest on the domestic market. Last year, for example, Argentina exported around 10.5 million kilograms of blueberries to the whole world, of that total, between six and seven million kilograms were sent to the United States. As confirmed by Apama for these shipments to the North American country, approximately $ 29,250,000 was received in foreign currency. Other markets for domestic fruits are Canada, which together with the United States accounts for 65% of total exports, the European Union and United Kingdom cover 30% and Asia 5%.

“The success of the defense conducted prevented the imposition of a safeguard measure which would have involved the closure of a crucial market which represented 427 million USD of Argentine exports during the period 2015-2020, with serious consequences on national production and job losses and income of regional economies, ”added the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

At the same time, Solá indicated in this document that “this is a fundamental measure because it was not only possible to prevent the closure of an export market of great importance for Argentina, such than the blueberry industry, but it also explains the joint work between the government and the business sector in the defense of exportable production ”.

“This bodes well in trade matters for the new US administration in the responsible use of trade defense measures, changes a history conducive to the use of safeguards, anti-dumping and countervailing duties, and refutes the lobby of important United States. members of Congress from bilberry-producing states, ”he said.

Other problems in the sector

Argentina harvested around 18,000 tonnes of blueberries last year, of which 11,000 were exported fresh, 3,500 were frozen and 3,000 were destined for the domestic market. In this sense, Apama said that of the 4,800 hectares that were used for the cultivation of this fruit in 2008, it has fallen in recent years to 2,400 hectares. The scenario responds to divestment and the lack of incentives for producers, among other factors that have hit the sector squarely.

“This year the withholdings have been removed for products from regional economies, but since we started exporting in December, we have closed the permits for January and March, and now we are paying withholdings,” Pannunzio said about of the problems they are going through.

On the other hand, the reimbursement in pesos of the VAT produces distortions in the sector. “We do not have accelerated depreciation of investments, we cannot depreciate quickly and we cannot make varietal changes, the macroeconomic instability which causes the degradation of our economy also hurts us”, he said. it sums.

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