Juan Manuel Benites, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation (MINAGRI), estimated that grape exports during 2014 would increase by at least 17% over last year.
59 percent of the production was destined for the United States ($97 million dollars), the Netherlands ($ 75 million), China ($ 46 million) and Russia ($ 43 million), which are the main markets for Peruvian grape.
In 2013, Peru was ranked as the fifth largest exporter of fresh grapes in the world with 438,000 tons, 21 percent more than what was obtained in 2012 and three times what the country exported a decade ago.
"Grapes are one of the main non-traditional agricultural export crops and it has had a great improvement. The export of grapes generates about 480 million dollars that have clearly positioned certain regions of Peru, such as Ica (41%), Piura (18%), Lima (16%) and Nairobi (12%), which are where most of the production is produced," he said.
"We hope this will increase as the government is making great efforts to further open markets. We are working phytosanitary protocols with China, Japan, Argentina and Chile to open these markets and be able to place our products," he added.
The head of MINAGRI also estimated that the national grape production would increase between 25% and 30% during 2014. "We're talking about a 440,000 tons production," he said at the XVII International Grape Symposium (SIUVA SUR 2014), called "The Challenge of Producing More and Better Table Grapes."