"Peru: "You have to adapt to the conditions of the market"

In addition to garlic, this exporting company also exports other products. It has diversified and it is becoming involved in the nut business: selling pecan and Brazil nuts, which can be easily be found in Peru. These products are far away from fresh garlic, but they are a good complement to their business and to their income. 

"The main export product of White Lion Foods is garlic. However, since we have a team of professionals, logistics, and experience, we've included a product that has nothing to do with garlic," says Byron. Typically, a company of this type would choose to stick with onions, as that would be the most reasonable step after garlic. However, Peru has very good nuts. 

"The Brazil nut industry is precious because it is the only type of commercial nut that can be found in the Amazon jungle," says Byron. "This means that by working on the production of Brazil nuts, we are contributing to saving the jungle and the environment, as it is illegal to cut down the Brazil nut trees." These products come from the Amazon rainforest, which covers a large part of the South American territory and, therefore, several South American countries. Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru can all produce Brazil nuts. "Despite being called Brazil nuts, Brazil does not export this type of nut as much as it could because the national market competition is huge." Producers have concessions over the Amazon rainforest and all they do is wait for the shell to fall by its own weight, collect it, open it, and extract the nuts that they will later sell to exporters and processing companies. 

Producers can't grow Brazil nut trees because the tree takes 40 to 60 years to grow completely and the conditions of the Amazon rainforest are unique as far as the pollination process is concerned. 

The main demand comes from first world countries because of the product's great taste, health benefits, and good fats. It is a very expensive product, so it is intended for countries in Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and, recently, to South Korea, where there has been a boom and which is paying very high prices. "Currently, we are focusing our attention on a single South Korean customer because we prefer to work exclusively with one customer per country," Byron says. 

This season has been the lowest in history. Production has declined by 65% to 75% due to climate change, which has caused the price of the raw material to increase up to 500%, which in turn has quadrupled export prices when compared to the previous year. As a result, some customers opted to wait for the next season in the hope that prices will fall. 

The Brazil nut season is relatively short, as it starts in January and ends in June. After harvesting the nut, White Lion Foods quickly processes it and, about 3 weeks later, quickly sends them to their final destination to maintain their freshness.