The ministry of agriculture and livestock (MAG for its acronym in Spanish) has tightened sanitary controls on pineapple exports, due to rejections by the United States based on insect presence have sharply increased.
The producers dislike the measure claiming it has already caused losses of $ 2.3 million during the 15 days since it came into effect.
The measure requires that inspectors check containers at the loading bays of port terminals. Before these inspections were carried out only on farms and packing plants.
Abel Chaves, president of the National Chamber of Producers and Exporters of Pineapples (CANAPEP), warned that the port facilities lack the capacity for inspecting 2,000 containers per week.
In 2015, the pineapple was the second most exported agricultural product after bananas. Last year, earnings for this export were $ 805 million.
Source: La Nación.