Peru's organic ginger harvest and export season is underway with strong early market demand that has led to the highest pricing ever seen at the start of a season. According to Marco Antonio Salas Cueva, General Manager of Jalhuca Amazonía S.A.C., a Peruvian grower and exporter of organic ginger: "As in each campaign at the beginning the prices always start at a minimum, which in this particular year is at a much higher price that has never been seen before. At the beginning of the campaign there were collection prices of 2 soles/kg ($0.54 kg) and currently it is being given with 3 soles/kg ($0.81 kg), which foreshadows a very complicated campaign in terms of prices, which has been a problem for Peruvian exporters and its importers in the previous season."
The new campaign for Peru has already begun in March, with the local market being the main consumer of the new product called baby ginger. "Let's not forget that Peru is a great consumer of ginger and this consumption increases year by year mainly due to the gastronomic boom that the country is experiencing. In the last week of March there were already some exporters sending ginger abroad by air, especially to the United States where, like many destinations, there is a product deficit. Our company has just started air shipments to Europe that will be available for sale and distribution at destination in week 15."
He says the ginger is still finishing its maturation cycle. "Therefore the only way for its export is by air and this will continue throughout the month of April and May where we will all be waiting to start sea shipments. In our case we have some fields that we could harvest for sea shipment in the second week of May, which is under evaluation and the weather will determine the optimal time to harvest. It is important to mention the health of the fields for this campaign because last year the sector had serious problems with a bacterium. Our field reports from the entire region tell us that a good percentage of the planted areas have been controlled with preventive applications of coppers and biological controllers allowed by the organic standard," explains Salas.
He says as an exporter they also helped other growers to fight the bacteria. "For our part, we decided to support our allied farmers and neighbours of our growing areas with biological controllers which we deliver free of charge so that they can fight this bacterium. However, there are many new farmers encouraged by the good prices of last year who, without the proper advice, have installed new areas and are a latent risk so that the bacteria can still have space in this new campaign."
Salas says last year's high prices have led many new companies in Peru to start planting and exporting ginger. "There is a lot of interest from new companies to enter the ginger business. Recently I had the visit of an important company recognized worldwide in the field of coffee and cocoa with the interest of developing its portfolio of products to also market ginger. Last year there was also the entry of new exporters that are already consolidated in other areas as is the case of Blue Pacific Oil that has ended giving the big surprise with its exported volumes in the 2023-2024 campaign."
Jalhuca Amazonía S.A.C. is a family company that has been in the hands of three generations who started in coffee and cocoa production several decades ago. They are based in the province of Satipo, which has 70% of the area planted with ginger.
"We entered ginger production in 2018 through a strategic alliance with the Spanish company Jalhuca Explotaciones, where we contribute our product. The United States market has been developed since the start of our company. Our main destination is the West Coast of the United States, where we have a commercial ally who is specialized in organic. Our ginger is distributed from California through Canada to Alaska. We are looking for a commercial ally for the East Coast of North America and for the United Kingdom. We have certificates such as organic, global gap and grasp to be able to serve the markets of the United States, Canada, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and all of Europe. Our available volume for the current campaign is 160 containers of ginger and 20 containers of turmeric," concludes Salas.
For more information:
Marco Antonio Salas Cueva
Jalhuca Amazonía S.A.C.
Tel: +51 949 620 606
Email: marco@jalhuca.com