Fruit shipments from the Argentine port of San Antonio Este (SAE) rose by 26.7% year-on-year in the first two months of 2013, reaching 94,405 metric tons (MT).

The export figures - compiled by the Patagonia Norte terminal and including shipments from Bahia Blanca in the south of Buenos Aires province - were dominated by pears at 78,861MT, having risen 24% year-on-year.

Apple shipments were up 41% at 13,675MT, but this trend is unlikely to continue after a hailstorm damaged crops on Mar. 1. Shortly afterwards, Argentine Chamber of Integrated Fruit Growers (CAFI) technical manager Daniel Satragni told www.freshfruitportal.com pears would mostly be in the clear.

The SAE figures show pear shipments were up to all destinations except the United States and Canada, which combined were down by 2.27% year-on-year.

Northern Europe registered the biggest volume spike in imports of Argentine pears, buying 66% more year-on-year at 21,778MT. This destination bought 327MT more pears than southern Europe, while Russia was the biggest market overall with 21,998MT in imports.

Northern Europe also had a large jump of 53% in apple imports from the South American country at 7,256MT, making it the biggest market followed by Algeria (2,271MT), other destinations (2,130MT) and Russia (1,676MT).

In terms of other fruits, grape shipments were 45% higher at 1,694MT and stonefruit exports were down by a third at 114MT.

While apple and pear shipments were up on last year, they were significantly down on 2011 for the same period with drops of 23% and 28% respectively.

www.freshfruitportal.com