A young entrepreneur, Manuel Canales (27) with his own export company Peru Mc Fruits has, for the past three years, sent blueberries, grown 300 meter above sea level from the city of Huaral (known as the "Capital of agriculture" in Peru) to world markets. China is his main market with Europe and the US other key markets for Peru Mc Fruits.
“Our objective is to position ourselves in new markets, that is to export blueberries with a new brand represented by Peru Mc Fruits. Our main destinations for the export of blueberries are China, to the Guangzhou and Shanghai markets, Europe and the United States,” says Canales.
He started the fruit export business, based outside the capital city of Lima, in his part time while still a student. He also obtained some experience while working in Spain. Canales now runs the export business full time as general manager.
Manuel Canals Hidalgo is the CEO and founder of Peru Mc Fruits.
“I started the fruit business when I was 20 years old and while I was studying international business. After growing up surrounded by the countryside, where my family produced a variety of fruits, I always wanted to be within this agro habitat. I worked in two packing houses where the agro-export experience became a passion for me. Currently I’m 27 years old with Peru Mc Fruits growing nicely. It is also a great satisfaction to have obtained our award as a Peruvian company of the year in the trade sector. We have been in the export and supply business for more than three years to importers and exporters of the agricultural sector. We focus mainly on processing, supplying and storing high quality fruits, while prioritizing the satisfaction of our customers. We are seeking to incorporate and establish the sale of our products in the markets of South America, the United States, Europe and Asia.”
Canales gives an idea of demand and pricing for blueberries from Peru: “Demand depends on the exportable volume that is obtained worldwide. If this volume is very high, prices are usually low, approximately between FOB $9.5 to $10.2. However, if the volume is low, prices begin to rise, approximately between FOB $14.5 to $152, which would be a positive result for exporters in the value of their product.”
Peru Mc Fruits focuses on exporting different varieties of blueberries via sea or air. “We are focusing in particular on blueberries. We supply the Ventura, Mágica and Eskoya varieties, which is exported by sea due to their greater resistance to travel. On the other hand, Biloxi and Esmeralda, since they have less resistance, we export them by air to ensure their optimum quality to the arrival. As in each campaign, the first thing we seek is to obtain the maximum production in volume, for this reason we need to prevent the weather from affecting the production estimated in the previous season, as we know every year this is a more difficult challenge due to climate change. Due to this event in the last two years, delays and low yields of exportable volume have been observed. We are exporting 31,996 boxes of blueberries that come to be approximately 50 exportable tons by sea, on the other hand, we export 8,400 boxes by air that refer to 13 exportable tons,” explains Canales.
Canales says Peru Mc Fruits also supplies other fruit such as Hass avocados, citrus including Tangerines and Murcott as well as Kent Mango. “What we are looking for this year is to double the volume of the previous year and see the possibility of adding new varieties to other markets that give us greater value to our exportable product,” he concludes.
For more information:
Manuel Canales
Peru Mc Fruit
Tel: +51 977 882 452
Email: [email protected]
www.perumcfruits.com
