Argentina's apple and pear export season saw a 15% drop in prices this year, due to an oversupply in the Northern Hemisphere.

What's more, this situation was just one of the problems that the Argentine industry had to face - the other being the temporary closure of the Brazilian market in February of this year.

Marcelo Loyarte, general manager of the Argentine Chamber of Integrated Fruit Growers (CAFI) told PortalFrutícola.com that Argentina's industry had expected to fetch lower prices before shipments even began.

He explained this was "because the Northern Hemisphere had a lot of fruit stock and an important fruit production of this campaign".

"In general, when the market is like this, prices tend to fall, so it's a clearly market issue," Loyarte added.

In as much, he maintained that the quality of the fruit was good, although the pears season began later than normal due to unfavorable growing conditions.

"We had a delay in the beginning of the harvest because there were climatic issues that caused the harvest to start later.

"It was a bit cold; it did not heat enough in December."

On the other hand, he pointed out that "in the case of the apple season, the weather was really very good."

Meanwhile, he indicated that the 10-day closure of the nation's border with Brazil was another factor negatively affecting the Argentine apple and pear season.

"From the logistic point of view, it was difficult to work all the volumes that were planned with this delay of 10 days.

"Afterwards it was quite difficult to relocate this fruit and sell it to other markets, but the situation is already returning back to normal."

Along the same lines, Loyarte clarified that the apple and pear export season takes place between January and July for Argentina's different destinations.

The only exception to this time period is Brazil, which receives pome fruit from country throughout the year.

According to the representative of CAFI, apples and pears from Argentina are shipped to more than 70 countries.

Moreover, 80% of these exports are concentrated in markets such as Europe, Russia, the U.S. and Latin America, including Brazil.