Peru preparing to sell fresh capsicums in the US
That was manifested by Jorge Chepote Gutiérrez, president for the Capsicums Committee at ADEX, pointing that once the market is open, the exporting potential for this product will be an important alternative for agricultural exporters in Peru.
For now, he said that they're exporting to the United States and Europe only preserved capsicum. The sale of these grew by 25% last year.
They're also exporting dehydrated paprika, sun dried and pressed, of which the most are sold, as last year US$110 million were exported, reaching a FOB price of US$3 per kilo.
Chepote explained that this rise is due to a growth in demand by Mexico, US and Europe, as producers were quite careful with harvested areas. "We didn't pass the 7,000 to 7,5000 hectares. With this auto-control we know that if we pass the 8,000 hectares we will have a surplus of offer and we lose everything with that", he said.
Chepote explained that producers respect this discipline after suffering for three campaigns in a row, the clamorous drop of prices due to too much production. Likewise, he pointed that in Peru there are thousands of paprika products and only 140 exporters.
When prices fall, the first ones suffering are producers and not exporters, since if they don't get a reasonable price they will be losing the invested money, manifested Chepote.
He explained that, recently, they started lowering prices due to the European and US crisis and due to paprika sales from China, between last October and December.
Prices, as pointed by the businessman, will be lower than in the last year, maybe reaching the US$2 per kilo, like the prices in the 2009/10. He reminded that even if China ended their offer now, they must have something stored. We will wait for the US and Europe to buy and see if its the real price, it might be US$2.20 and US$2.30 FOB in March.
Source: agronegociosperu