Argentina exports its first blueberries to China

The Berries Del Sol company, based in Colonia Ayui, sent 720 kilos of fresh fruit to China on Tuesda…

The Berries Del Sol company, based in Colonia Ayui, sent 720 kilos of fresh fruit to China on Tuesday. This is expected to be the beginning of a cycle of demand for local fruit exports.

On Monday, the Berries del Sol company sent two pallets of blueberries from Colonia Ayuí to Shenzhen, a city with more than 50,000 new millionaires, and towering skyscrapers. Shenzhen is the headquarters of Huawei, ZTE cellular companies, and BYD hybrid vehicle factories. It is located in the province of Canton and has 12 million inhabitants, nearly 50,000 of which are millionaires.

The first shipment of Argentinian blueberries to China were sent there. A few weeks ago, and after years of negotiations, the Asian giant enabled the import of fresh fruit and this first export marks the beginning of a cycle that is expected to have increasing demand.

The fruit's itinerary
Berries Del Sol exported 2 pallets of blueberries, i.e. about 720 kilos, of the Emerald variety.

According to Alejandro Pannunzio, the representative of the company and president of the Association of Blueberry Producers of the Argentina's Mesopotamia (APAMA), the fruit was sent from the company's headquarters in Concordia, Entre Rios, to Ezeiza, by truck. Then, it will be shipped by air, with stops in Istanbul and Hong Kong, from where it will be transported to Shenzhen by land.

The fruit was previously treated according to the sanitary protocols agreed with the Chinese sanitary authority, "which implies that we reserved some land to do that specific treatment, because we were betting that the market would be opened," Pannunzio stated. "We were able to apply certain products thanks to the efforts that we made with SENASA a year and a half ago to expand the use of phytosanitary products," he added.

"We also had to prepare to follow the exclusive steps China demands, such as allocating the fruit to a cold chamber exclusively for that shipment," he says.

The shipment, which was loaded on Monday in Concordia, arrived at Ezeiza on Tuesday morning and departed to China during the afternoon. Pannunzio, the Agro-industry Secretary, Luis Miguel Etchevehere, the Vice President of SENASA, Guillermo Rossi, and other national authorities attended the departure of this first shipment.

The fruit is kept at zero degrees during its trip, and it will reach its destination in 48 hours.

"We hope importers are satisfied so that they immediately make new orders," Pannunzio stated.