In 2021, Peru devoted 16,536 hectares to blueberry cultivation, i.e. 20.7% more than in the previous year and, according to projections by the president of the consulting firm Inform@cción, Fernando Cilloniz Benavides, at the end of this year, the country will have about 20,000 hectares of blueberries.
The regions with the largest blueberry areas in 2021 were La Libertad with 8,523 hectares (7,518 hectares in 2020), Lambayeque with 3,608 ha (2,870 ha), Ica with 1,255 ha (762 ha in 2020), Lima with 1,236 ha (1,172 ha), Áncash with 1,012 ha (808 ha), Piura with 858 ha (523 ha), and Moquegua with 43 ha (44 ha).
The most planted varieties in 2021 were the Ventura with 5,290 ha (4,711 ha in 2020) and the Biloxi variety with 5,160 ha (5,381 ha). They were followed by the Rocio variety with 1,238 ha (860 ha), Emerald with 1,034 ha (783 ha), Atlas Blue with 425 ha (244 ha), Sekoya Pop with 424 ha (55 ha), Sekoya Beauty with 365 ha (45 ha), Stella Blue with 344 ha (142 ha), Kestrel with 268 ha (58 ha), and other varieties with 1,984 ha (1,416 ha).
"There were a total of 10,450 hectares of Ventura and Biloxi varieties in Peru in 2021, which accounted for 63.2% of the total blueberries in the country. In addition, the Ventura variety (patented) has already surpassed the Biloxi (generic), which was the one that proliferated the most, and expectations are that the areas of the other patented varieties will also continue to grow," Cilloniz stated.
2021/2022 Export Campaign
Peru exported a total of 217,894,774 kilos of blueberries in the 2021/2022 campaign, i.e. 34% more than in the 2020/2021 campaign. In terms of value, blueberry shipments in the 2021/2022 campaign amounted to 1,266,008,830 dollars, i.e. 26.37% more than in the previous campaign.
The main destinations for the Peruvian blueberries were: North America with 123,143,434 kilos and 698,426,446 dollars, Europe with 65,545,091 kilos and 382,888,803 dollars, Asia with 28,583,811 kilos and 180,912,542 dollars, and Latin America with 622,437 kilos and 3,781,038 dollars.
The main fresh-blueberry-exporting companies in Peru in the 2021/2022 campaign were: Hortifrut Peru with 33,690,275 kilos, Camposol with 32,873,741 kilos, Agrovision Peru with 19,408,647 kilos, Beta Agroindustrial Complex with 12,971,267 kilos, Agroberries Peru with 9,489,845 kilos, and other companies (Danper Trujillo, Agricola Cerro Prieto, HFE Berries Peru, Hass Peru, Blueberries Peru, Agrícola Santa Azul, Hortifrut Tal SAC, Exportadora Frutícola del Sur, Carsol Piura, etc.) with 103,371,441 kilos.
Source: agraria.pe