Logistics costs slowed export of Argentine blueberries

Tucumán province blueberry producers have seen their exports grow in recent years in the wake of improvements that were made at the airport in that province. However, commercial aviation limitations and the high cost of freight, boosted in part by the pandemic, meant that for the second consecutive year that terminal was not used for export.

Francisco Estrada, head of the Association of Blueberry Producers of Tucumán: “The situation is quite painful, but there is no way to make it viable. Air fares went up a lot and we cannot compete with those prices.”

The works to be able to export blueberries by air had been preceded by the acquisition of a series of cold stores. Later, the extension of the runway, a new beacon and improvements in the cargo terminal allowed flights to Peru, Brazil and Chile, which greatly reduced the costs of producers who until then had to go by land to Ezeiza.

However, the number of flights has decreased considerably, being only three or four per day to national destinations. That implies high costs.

The News in Charts is a collection of stories from the industry complemented by charts from Agronometrics to help better tell their story.

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