White and green asparagus are both currently being sourced from Peru. The green asparagus Peruvian season, however, will start winding down at the beginning of January and will start again in the spring. “We will have good volume of Mexican product starting in February,” notes Katiana Valdes with Crystal Valley Foods. She says the company has developed a strong and consistent white asparagus supply program and will continue to import and market white asparagus every week of the year.
The season started normally; there has been more white asparagus in the market this year versus previous years. All of Crystal Valley’s asparagus is imported from either Peru or Mexico since American production is limited to spring and represents less than 10 percent of total fresh asparagus volume in the USA.
There’s normally a spike in asparagus consumption at Christmas and New Year’s associated with the many dining activities associated with the holidays. “We expect less volume from Peru as the season winds down and more volume from Mexico as that growing region begins production,” she says.
Peru's online news agency Andina.pe reported on December 12 that the country’s non-traditional export volume increased seven percent last October from the same month in 2016, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI). Two commodities that cited continuous export volume growth were blueberries (40.1 percent) and asparagus (5 percent). Peru’s top export destinations were China (25.1% of total exported value), the United States (17.1%), South Korea (8.2%), Spain (6.6%), Brazil (4.1%), and Japan (3.5%).
For more information:
Katiana Valdes
Crystal Valley Foods
Ph: 305.591.6567