EXPORTS AND THE WORLD SCENARIO

During the previous decade, China exported an average of 500,000 tones of peanuts a year (not all edible quality), Argentina 300,000 and the USA around 200,000. Since 2006 and so far, the exports of edible peanuts from Argentina went over 400,000 tones, while Chinese exports sharply decreased and the US shipments keep unchanged. In 2010 Argentina exported 496,000 tones of high quality edible peanuts [2] to 88 countries.

Our country also manufactures and exports peanut paste, butter, oil, meals and pellets, totaling around 75,000 tones of these by products. E.g. Argentine peanut oil is a different product, gourmet quality, due to the excellent quality of its raw material and food safety systems implemented in all our crushing facilities.

Around 65 % of the Argentine peanut exports go to the European Union (mainly The Netherland, Germany, UK, France, Greece and Poland). Other consistent importers are the USA; Canada, Chile, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Argelia, Brazil, Australia, Russia, Ukraine, China, India, Kuwait, Taiwan, Thailand and Israel.

USA produce some 1,6 to 2 million tones of farmer stock peanuts every year. US farmers enjoy strong subsidies and most of their production is destined to the domestic market. Their domestic consumption of peanuts and peanut butter shows a slight increase. China produces 13,5 million tones of farmer stock peanuts; almost this entire production is destined to domestic consumption. Its reduced exports go mainly to its neighbor countries in the SE Asia. Serious and constant health problems (aflatoxins and pesticide residues) made the European Community Food Safety Authority to apply restrictions on the imports of Chinese peanuts since 2002. At the same time, China is dramatically increasing its own domestic consumption, then causing a more drastic reduction on its exportable volumes. Furthermore, since 2009 China is importing Argentine peanuts and peanut oil for its gourmet segment.

In order to meet market demands and requirements by the new food safety legislation in Europe and other importing countries, in 2005 all our processing plants started to implement systems of food safety and quality assurance: Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and then HACCP systems (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points). Nowadays these plants even have got certifications under BRC standard (British Retail Consortium) and ETI (Ethical Trading Initiative).

Since then the Argentine peanut industry has been working under production systems designed to meet the most stringent standards of food hygiene and health. In the year 2006 the Surveillance Program to Prevent Pesticide Residues in Argentine Peanuts was launched, conducted by the Argentine Peanut Foundation, INTA and CEPROCOR (the central provincial lab).