A quality certification initiative from Argentina's leading lemon exporters has led to a 25% increase in standards this year, based on a range of fruit characteristic indices.

The All Lemon Tested & Certified for Export seal includes quality factors including juice content, firmness, freshness, durability, traceability, security, color balance and peel conditions.

An All Lemon release said the seal had allowed exporters to send higher quality fruit with a more refined and uniform strategy, leading to increased arrivals in new markets like Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Middle East.

The companies involved in the group are Argenti Lemon, Citrusvil, Citromax, Trapani, Frutucumán, Ledesma, La Moraleja, Latin Lemon, Moño Azul, Pablo Padilla, San Miguel and Univeg Expofrut Argentina.

Citrusvil director Daniel Lucci said 6,000 cartons of fruit were controlled daily by the certification scheme this season, across the 24 packing lines of the member companies.

Citromix general manager Carlos Bertolotti said the group understood how demanding the Asian market could be, and thanks to the quality seal it was able to provide a strong guarantee for the region.

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