As some of the first lemons from South Africa are being loaded for Greece next week and Argentina's lemons are also getting ready for harvesting and exports soon, a trader from Argentina says markets in Europe are slow but ready to receive the summer citrus. Juan Ignacio, CEO of KJI Trade LLC, based in Argentina, also exports exotic fruit from South America to the Middle East and Europe where there is growing demand.
"I'm already starting to load lemons from South Africa to Greece next week, there's no big problems. It is still a little early to say about Argentina. European markets are slow but I see more interest in fruit in general this year than the previous season," states Ignacio.
His company exports 200 containers of fruit from different locations to markets around the world. "I'm selling the exotics to Dubai, mainly granadilla and pitahaya at the moment. I think maybe the biggest market for exotics from Colombia could be China and the Middle-East, but Europe also take its fair share. My company is KJI Trade LLC. We focus on product from South America for our client´s in the North of Africa, Middle East, Europe, Asia and Russia."
He says the demand in the Middle East is increasing due to the relatively good consumer purchasing power. "Demand is increasing every year. This region's consumers demand higher end exotics and pay high prices for them. We all know the countries in Middle East have a good economy now due to high oil prices."
Ignacio says they are currently loading avocados and pomegranates from Peru. "We're also loading apples, pears, plums and grapes from Chile. Our pears come from Argentina. But we also do quite a bit of citrus from South Africa for our clients in European countries. One of our strongest product´s is also about to start now, which is lemons from Argentina, but the rains are giving us a hard time and delaying the harvest."
For more information:
Juan Ignacio Kloster
KJI Trade LLC
Tel: + 54 2994277719
Email: [email protected]
www.kji5trade.com