Sergio del Castillo Valderrama, CEO of the Citrus Growers Association of Peru (ProCitrus), estimated that Peru could export 115,000 tons of citrus this year, more than 20% than in 2013, when the volume exported amounted to 95,000 tons (USD 85 million). Castillo said that the union he represented had decided to revise the estimate made in early 2014, when they predicted that exports would grow by 10% at the end of this campaign. He explained that the estimate was revised because, throughout the year, they had been able to better define, among other variables, the production volumes, export percentages and fruit sizes.
"Procitrus makes an estimate after the physiological fall of the various varieties carried out in December, but sometimes these estimates are somewhat imprecise and we have to wait until April or May to see how the fruit evolves after summer. That's when we really know the volumes," he said.
He highlighted that the 20% increase in shipments would mean an increase in shipments to all destination markets in proportion, mainly to the UK, the Netherlands (which is the gateway to the north and east of Europe) and the United States.
He also said that the 92% of the total citrus that would be exported this year would be of tangerines, 7% of oranges and 1% of limes.
As for the citrus production this year, Sergio del Castillo said that estimate would increase by 10% compared to the previous year. In this regard, he said exports represented a little over 10% of the total production while the remaining 90% was intended for the local market.
He said the 10% growth in production was due to the alternation in yields per year at the plantations: as one year yields are higher than the next one they are lower and so on.
In this regard, he said the local market prices declined due to the large amount of fruit there was. "Prices per kilo in the field have been slightly lower than last year, but somehow this has been compensated by the increased volume in production." Regarding export prices, he said that they were similar to last year.
El Niño
Sergio del Castillo said they hadn't had any weather related problems in the production of citrus this year. He said they had had an early flowering, which helped the early varieties. He also stated that there had been a delay in the fruit's change of colour before it was harvested, but that they were already the right colour.
If the phenomenon of El Niño does happen, he said, summer could be longer and that could generate risks for next year's production, as there would be a delay in flowering and colour change in citrus.
Source: Agraria.pe