Argentina's pears, apples, and citrus have lost co
9 July 2019 - Media Release - Fresh Plaza
According to the latest report published by Coninagro, pears, apples, and citrus fruits have had a strong loss of competitiveness this year. In the first quarter of this year, pears fell by 18.7%, apples by 11.6%, and citrus fruits by 16.4%.
According to the report, "during the first quarter of the year, these three regional economies shared some dynamics. Firstly, all of them suffered a marked deterioration in their infrastructure (all with falls that were greater than 50%), caused mainly by the cut in public funds destined to infrastructure works tending to improve the performance of the agricultural sector, in the framework of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund that contemplates a more restrictive fiscal target."
The main causes are the marked deterioration of the purchasing power of the population (greater than 10%) and less access to financing, a key instrument for the development of regional economies given their small scale.
"In this sense, the loans granted to these regional economies showed an average contraction of almost 15% measured in dollars, as a consequence of the devaluation and the increase in interest rates," the report states.
Source: lacapitalmdp.com