It is not just incoming cargo from Japan that is slowing down. Some outgoing shipments from the United States have also been disrupted.
"It’s caused a lot of obvious disruption on both sides of the water here and when it comes to agriculture and refrigerated agriculture in particular here it’s been a real troublesome time," Joe LoBue stated.
LoBue developed the Japanese export market for LoBue Citrus more than 30 years ago. He says normally, 40 percent of his exports of oranges are sorted, packed and shipped to Japan. Since the earthquake, he’s seen a 10 to 15 percent drop.
"Those sales are gone and it’s a quarter of a million dollars worth of exportable sales that we won’t see," he said.
LoBue says the loss comes from a string of problems that started with cancellations in the first week after the earthquake.
Then there was the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant.
"Some of the boats at the very beginning started diverting to other ports in Japan, some of the boats avoided Japan all together," LoBue stated.
Once the oranges got to Japan there were problems with transportation and having enough electricity to refrigerate them. LoBue says the Japanese are also not buying as many oranges from California because of the cost. "Imported goods are still a luxury and how much they will continue having problems they don’t know, but we’re hoping by the fall that things are better," he said.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25