Peruvian agricultural exports amounted to $5,051.8 million dollars in 2014, 19.4% more than in the previous year, due to the demand for fruit, vegetables, coffee and their presence in new markets. However, according to the Association of Exporters (ADEX), this growth won't continue in 2015 because of several agronomic and market factors.
Giannina Denegri, manager of ADEX Agro, said that, even though 2014 had been a good year for the sector, certain crops had production and yield problems because of El Niño. "This phenomenon showed its first signs with an increase in temperatures in the north, focus of the current growth of agricultural exports, which caused immediate and medium-term effects on important crops," she said.
Denegri stated that the grape and avocado harvest had started earlier and that there had been an acceleration of the flowering of the mango that affected the current season as it had an impact on the fruit's size and quality.
Regarding the capsicum (peppers), she said that the weather in the north and south could cause producers to face a decline in yields; there was a lack of water and an increase in the presence of pests in the first half of the year because of the drought and the summer; a situation that was regularized in the second half of the year. However, the system of maximum and minimum temperatures favoured the fruition of piquillo peppers and pimento.
According to figures from the International Trade Center, global agricultural exports grew by 16.6% in 2014. This figure confirms the expansion of the agricultural market and that Peru has managed to grow above average. "We will have to double our efforts to maintain our good performance, improve our productivity, our sales management and, above all, the monitoring and certification of our products' quality. That is the only way to deal with the negative climatic factors and the increased competition from countries like Mexico," said Denegri.
Agricultural export basket
The Business Intelligence System ADEX Data Trade stated that traditional shipments grew by 6.8%, amounting to $839.3 million dollars, and accounting for 16.6% of total shipments. The traditional product most in demand was coffee ($727,4 million), which had a slight increase of 4.1%.
Non-traditional agricultural exports reached $4,212.4 million dollars, representing an increase of 22.2% and accounted for 83.3% of the total. The manager of ADEX Agro said that the factors driving this demand were new presentations of the products such as fruit, vegetables and other products of the food industry.
She noted that the most popular products were grapes ($636.5 million dollars), fresh asparagus ($ 383.8 million), avocados ($306.9 million dollars), quinoa, beans, asparagus, canned food for animals, mangoes, evaporated milk, bananas, and artichokes, among others.
Quinoa exports, which were ranked twelfth in 2013, grew by 148% and ranked fifth in 2014. Their main market was the U.S., but they also had a significant diversification of markets, reaching Australia and the Middle East.
157 destinations
According to ADEX Data Trade, Peru exported its agricultural products to 157 destinations in 2014. The main destination was the U.S. ($1,482.9 million dollars), which increased its purchases by 21.4% and accounted for 29.3% of total shipments. The U.S. bought asparagus, coffee, avocado, grape, quinoa, artichoke, and onions, among other products.
The second market was the Netherlands ($585.8 million dollars) with a growth of 27% as a result of their increase in fruit orders. Germany ranked third with $329.9 million dollars, followed by Spain with $267.4 million dollars, even though their orders contracted by 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.
Other destinations were Ecuador (+25.2%), UK (10.1%), Colombia (6.8%), China (43.9%), Canada (47%), Belgium (23.8%), Hong Kong (124.1%), Chile (8.1%), France (-0.3%), Brazil (49.6%), etc. Denegri added that the new markets for the Peruvian products were Malta, Luxembourg, Yemen, Yugoslavia, and Greenland, among others.
The manager of ADEX Agro highlighted the importance of the Asian market, especially China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan. "Indonesia and Thailand will be important new markets that concentrate orders of fruit and vegetables, mainly; Saudi Arabia and South Korea are a good opportunity for capsicum, as we are already successfully shipping it there," she said.
Major exporting companies
According to the data from ADEX Data Trade, the major exporting companies in 2014 were Camposol SA, Persales Huancaruna SAC, Alicorp SAA, Gloria SA, Sociedad Agricola Viru SA, DanPer Trujillo SAC, and Complejo Industrial Beta SA, among others.
Source: Con nuestro Peru