Peruvian blueberry shipments, one of Peru's most representative fruit exports, achieved a new record. In 2017, this superfood managed to enter China and this country became one of its main destinations, stated the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur).
Last year, exports of blueberries to the Asian giant totalled US $34 million (some 4 thousand tons), making Peru China's second biggest supplier of blueberries after Chile.
Until 2016, 98% of the fruits imported by China were supplied by the southern country, a scenario that radically changed in 2017.
The boom in sales of Peruvian blueberries was due to the country's increase in production and the subscription of a phytosanitary protocol for the access of the fresh fruit to China, celebrated at the end of 2016.
This also allowed China to consolidate itself as the third largest market for our superfood (10% share), still below the United States (44% share) and the European Union (39%).
However, Peruvian blueberries still have a lot of potential in China, given that China is made up of more than 1,400 million consumers.
Between January and December 2017, total exports of blueberries reached US $361 million, i.e. 50% more than in the same period of 2016. This result was due to the higher volumes sent (+53%), which offset the lower FOB prices (-2%).
In this way, Peru became the world 's third largest exporter of blueberries (12% share), after Chile (24%) and Spain (13%); and above Canada (10%) and the US (10%).
Source: gestion.pe