The Argentine Government managed to unlock an obstacle in the Brazilian customs inspection for the export of fish and seafood to Brazil, where The main businessmen of the sector met this Thursday with the largest Brazilian importers to increase sales of hake, shrimp and open the market to trout and mussels.
So he told Télam this Thursday the Undersecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Carlos Liberman, who led, accompanied by the Consul General in São Paulo, Luis María Kreckler, the official mission in the business round he held at the headquarters of the powerful Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp) .
The Government had started the mission on Wednesday with the trip of the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Nation, Julián Domínguez, who, accompanied by Ambassador Daniel Scioli, met with his Brazilian counterpart, Marcos Montes Cordeiroand the presidents of the fishing business chambers and directors of companies in the sector.
One of the topics addressed by Domínguez and Cordeiro was the obstacles encountered by Argentine exporters to place hake in the neighboring country in recent monthsby virtue of some alterations in the Brazilian import code.
We continue to work on strengthening the capacities of our producers, to generate more value and contribute to global food security.
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During the meeting, The modification for 60 days of the evaluation criteria for Argentine frozen hake was announced, which will speed up sales to that country and will bring an immediate impact to exports from Patagonia and Mar del Plata.
“It has been possible to modify the situation that had caused difficulties for exports”Liberman said.
The business round allowed, in addition to hake –main product that Argentina sells to Brazil- that the shrimp was in the offers of Argentine producers in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Rio Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego.
The shrimp market opened last year in Brazil after being prohibited for more than a decade and is currently destined mainly for high-end restaurants and hotels.
Aquaculture, according to Liberman, was for the first time part of the supply of fishery products to Brazil, especially trout.
“Argentine trout is an option for the Brazilian market. The one that we offer is free of antibiotics, developed in areas declared free of communicable diseases, a product of higher quality than salmon and that can be an option for sushi”, the official explained.
In Brazil there is the largest Japanese community outside of Japan and São Paulo is one of the cities in the world that consumes most sushi in a massive and popular way, with which trout can enter as a competition for salmon.
For its part, Kreckler told Télam that the intention of the business roundorganized by Argentina at the headquarters of the most important industrial federation in Latin America, is to deepen the Brazilian market for Argentine fish and shrimp, in the context of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
“As a result of the war in Ukraine, the idea is to bring more products to Brazil. We are looking for new market niches in deep Brazil, in the northeast region, and São Paulo is the way for them to come together from all over Brazil”explained the diplomat.
Kreckler highlighted Minister Domínguez’s visit to Brasilia, which made it possible to release the temporary obstacles that some hake shipments had experienced in recent months.
For his part, the head of the Fish Division of the Fiesp Agribusiness Department, Roberto Imai, told Télam that Brazilian interest in Argentine fish is high because “hake is part of the Brazilian table.”
“This round of business has been a complete success. For Argentines, the Brazilian market is very attractive. Nothing better than coming to sell fish before Easter”, declared the Brazilian businessman.
