Costa Rica's National Chamber of Pineapple Producers (CANAPEP) has reported that some 175 pineapple producers are being affected by the drop in exports in the main markets for this fruit, Europe and the USA, which are currently hit by the spread of COVID-19.
According to Abel Chaves Trigueros, the president of the chamber, this situation has a stronger impact in the northern part of the country, where 49% of the fruit producers are concentrated. Chaves noted that exports to the United States have decreased by 30% in the last two weeks, while Europe is rejecting 40% of pineapple shipments.
According to Chaves, that percentage translates into 1,300,000 boxes of pineapple a week that are getting stuck, which means losses of 6.5 million dollars.
Due to the situation, CANAPEP is negotiating with the Ministry of Foreign Trade (Comex) new outlets for the fruit that is not currently being sent to the American and European markets. One of them is to take advantage of the recovery in the Asian continent, where the fruit in juice form could be commercialized.
For now, they are coordinating actions with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock so that, through the Government, commercial ties with countries like China are re-established.
“They are coming out to the end of the virus issue, of the pandemic. Both the Minister of Foreign Trade (Dayla Jimenez Figueres) and the Minister of Agriculture (Renato Alvarado Rivera) are willing to collaborate with us. One step is the re-establishment of a ship that makes two direct trips from Moin to Shanghai, which had a fairly good transit time," said Chaves.
Source: diarioextra.com