Ica's grape production, mainly the export varieties such as the Red Globe and the Seedless, would increase by 6.3 % in 2014, estimated engineer Nicanor Lévano Toro, director of the Regional Agricultural Direction (DRA) of Ica.
He said that this year's grape planted area reached 11,065 hectares and that the expected production volume was 160,355 MT, of which 65 % would be exported to countries like United States, China, the Netherlands, Indonesia, Taiwan, Russia and the United Kingdom.
However, he noted that this year's figures show a 35% drop compared to last year, when they amounted to 249,768 MT as fewer hectares of vines were planted this season.
However, the engineer projected that the tonnage would be 6.3% greater next year than in 2013. Thus, they would achieve producing 170,516 MT.
According to the calendar of the Association of Agricultural Producers Guild of Peru, the grape campaign begins in October and runs through mid-March. The main producing areas are Piura and Ica.
In this regard, Piura's DRA also estimated that this year's planted areas of table grape grew 30 % compared to 2012, reaching 4,800 hectares. 80 % of these areas correspond to the Red Globe variety, which will be exported directly to markets like the U.S., Europe, Asia, Chile and Canada.
Mango and Asparagus
Ica's DRA also reported that during 2013 the department planted 13,940 acres of asparagus and 788 of mango. They noted that the export volumes of the latter aren't significant yet. However, as was also reported by them, this year's mango production reached 5,395 MT, a 27% increase compared to 2012. In 2014, production will grow by 3%.
As for the asparagus, they estimated that the production would reach 160,500 MT in 2014, 5% more than this year. This year's shipments are heading to Brazil, Japan, Korea, Colombia, Chile, Australia, Guatemala and Panama.
Source: Agraria.pe