Panamanian agroexporters could lose $3 million because of the bankruptcy of a Dutch company to whom they sold their production for 2011-2012.
The companies Exportadores de Azuero, Fénix Business and Expo Latinas, up until today have not been able to get paid for the production of nearly 500 acres of melons and watermelons sent to the European market, said Alexis Bravo, president of the Union of Nontraditional Agricultural Exporters (Grantrap).
The Panamanian company Ramafrut S.L. has made its first shipment of fresh pineapple to the Russian market.
Billed as gourmet product, commercial prices in the Russian market can be up to $10 a pound.
For their part, the companies Dalotta and FASP recently signed a buy-sell agreement with the German importer Don Limon for the production of 50 hectares of pineapple, muskmelon and watermelon, to be marketed in Europe as well as Asia.
The Asian country waived a series of food health measures which prevented Panamanian melons, pineapples, watermelons and gourds from entering its market.
Such decision was taken after the region of Azuero was recognized as free from the Mediterranean fly (Moscamed).
Florencio Edwin Pérez, president of the nontraditional agro exporters union Gantrap, commented that “the only obstacle impeding Panama from entering this market was the recognition of the Azuero region as free from the fly”.
The decline of agricultural products exports have left losses of more than $20 million.
According to data from the Comptroller General of the Republic, a decline of 53% was reported for banana exports between January and April of this year, 68.85% in melons, 53.48% in watermelons, and 19.8% in pineapple compared to the same period last year.
María De Gracia writes in Panamá América: “For its part, the export of coffee declined by 36.4%.