Sales of apples and pears from the Valley of Rionegro and Neuquen have registered a notable drop in the first two months of 2022, mainly associated with the crop losses there have been because of the frost and hail storms in spring, which some estimate to be in the order of 30% compared to last year.
According to the available data, just over 27,700 tons of apples were marketed, reflecting a 47% year-on-year drop in volume and a 58% decrease over the first two months of 2020.
The decrease affected both sales in the domestic market and abroad. In the first two months of this year, sales to the domestic market fell by 35% over the same period of 2021 with 20,042 tons, and only 2,500 tons were exported, i.e 62% less than in the same period of 2021.
The concentrate industry was no stranger to this loss of volume. Official data highlight that just over 5,100 tons of apples were allocated to the production of concentrated juices. That is nearly 9,000 tons less than last year.
Better results for pears
According to statistics provided by SENASA, the marketing of pears in the first two months of the year had much lower relative falls, in terms of volume in all its markets.
By the end of February, the country had exported 55,800 tons of pears, i.e. 5% less than during the same period of the previous year. However, it's worth noting that the impact that the war in Ukraine has had on the export volume is not yet reflected in this first statistic.
The volume destined for the domestic market increased by nearly 5% over the same period of the previous year, and just over 51,000 tons of pears were destined for the industry, i.e. 8% less than in the same period of the previous year.
Source: rionegro.com.ar