A lack of international competitiveness is severely affecting Cuyo's garlic sector, in Argentina; the province's most important in terms of export volumes.
The region's twenty warehouses are practically inactive, and according to local producers and exporters:
- Around 1,000 hectares were cultivated last season; a drop in acreage of approximately 33%. For the campaign that will start in February, not even 500 hectares are expected to be planted.
- According to growers, 70% of the volume produced annually goes to Mendoza's warehouses for packing and exporting. This year, this percentage should grow.
27 US dollars would be this year's minimum cost of production for a 10 kilo box, FOB Buenos Aires. The prices offered by foreign importers oscillated between 16 and 25 US dollars. Producers received 4 US dollars.
Juan Marrelli, one of the growers affected, stated that "this is a bad season in every sense of the word. We are receiving orders, but we cannot give our production costs away after working so hard."
All producers consulted agreed on blaming the lack of national policies to facilitate the task of exporters and improve the competitiveness of the country's agro-industrial products in the international market.
Source: diariodecuyo.com.ar
