Sergio del Castillo Valderrama, the general manager of the Association of Blueberry Producers of Peru (ProArandanos), said that last year producers installed 1,800 to 2,000 hectares of blueberries in the country.
The demand for this product is so high, he said, that producers that want to buy blueberry plants find that the nursery companies have sold most of them. "Last year alone Fall Creek allocated 7 million plants (1,800 hectares) to Peru," he said.
He also said that this year, the nurseries had already sold blueberry plants that will allow the installation of 2 thousand more hectares of this berry; and that they already had already orders for 2019.
"According to estimates we'll have around 10 thousand hectares of blueberries by 2020; currently we have 5,000 hectares," he said.
Sergio del Castillo said that they planned to install different varieties of blueberry in the new areas, leaving aside the Biloxi variety, which is currently being grown in at least half of the 5 thousand existing hectares of blueberries.
Every year, the United States and Europe put out new varieties of blueberries. Since the Biloxi variety is free (no royalty), it might continue to be cultivated by small and medium producers, but large companies are going to bet on new varieties.
Peru could become a bigger exporter of blueberries than Chile
According to Sergio del Castillo, Chile currently has 15 thousand hectares of blueberries, an area that Peru could reach. However, he said, the country has to evaluate if the market is able to absorb the entire volume. "With that volume, the blueberry will become a commodity product. In fact, nowadays we already see this product on our table almost every day, it's no longer an expensive product."
In 2017, he said, Peru positioned itself as the fourth largest exporter of blueberries, below the United States, Chile, and Canada; and surpassing Spain. Every year Peru has climbed a position and next year it could displace Canada and become the third biggest exporter of blueberries. In time, it could produce as much as Chile and even surpass it, as long as it continues to grow as it has so far.
Source: agraria.pe