The Director of the Business Unit of the Peruvian Chamber of China Commerce (Capechi), Miguel Galvez Escobar, said that, in 2016, Peruvian exports of table grapes to China + Hong Kong amounted to US $115 million - 29.45% less than the US $163 million achieved in 2015. In 2014 these shipments amounted to US $180 million.
Galvez Escobar also said that Peru had exported 59,400 tons of table grapes to China in 2016, i.e. 25.76% less than the 80,000 tons shipped in 2015.
"There has been a fall of table grape shipments from Peru to China + Hong Kong. Shipments had already decreased in 2015 (compared to 2014) and they decreased more in 2016," he said.
He also said that the decline in volume was smaller than the decline in value, because prices continued to decline year by year. Prices are decreasing because there is greater supply of grapes from other countries and the Peruvian grape is no longer a novelty but a consolidated product.
Miguel Galvez said that to regain the levels reached in 2014 in this market, exporters should work on marketing issues - not only doing a massive promotions, but developing their own boxes, designs, and alternative packaging.
"Another interesting issue is making sales through electronic platforms. Many Chilean fruits, such as the cherries and blueberries, are sold on Internet portals because their official agencies sign agreements with these electronic sales platforms, which is a good alternative, he said.
Regarding the current Peruvian table grape campaign (which began in October 2016 and ends in March 2017), the director of the Business Unit of Capechi said that, so far, they only had information of the first three months of the campaign, i.e. half of the campaign.
From October to December 2016, Peru exported US $41.7 million (22,000 tons) table grapes to China + Hong Kong. In this same period of 2015, Peru exported US $53.2 million (27,000 tons) of table grapes to the same destinations. 94% of the total despatched corresponds to the Red Globe variety.
Source: agraria.pe