Ana María Deustua, executive director of the Association of Agricultural Producers Guild of Peru (AGAP), announced that, so far this year, Peru has exported $6,570,000 dollars of fresh Pomegranate to Russia, 46% more than the total sent in 2013, which amounted to $4.5 million dollars.
Deustua also said that, compared to the $2.4 million generated in 2013, citrus exports to date had also increased as they amounted to USD $2,784,000. Shipments of grapes, which last year amounted to nearly 44 million dollars, were also expected to increase, she said.
The executive told the Prensa Latina website that Peru had shipped 53 million dollars in fresh fruit to the Russian market last year and that the conditions were given to double that figure this year. In this regard, she stated, AGAP's presence in the World Food Moscow 2014 Fair, which started on September 15 and ends today, increased short-term expectations.
"Our aim is to continue growing here in the long term, regardless of the niche created by the Russian ban on food imports from the countries that sanctioned them after the events in Ukraine," she said.
She also said that the maritime freight line between the port of Callao and St. Petersburg allowed Peruvian goods to arrive to Russia without losing their quality in a term of 25 to 28 days.
Meanwhile, the economic and commercial counsellor of the Embassy of Peru in Russia, Carlos Flores, reiterated the commitment of that nation of providing full support to their exporters.
"We reopened our commercial office in Moscow in March of this year, and we are driving efforts to expand the presence of Peruvian products," he added.
The Russian-Peruvian Intergovernmental Commission will meet on October 14 and 15 and the agenda should include Peru's fishing potential for Russia, he said.
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Throughout this year, the country intends to celebrate the 45 year diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Peru by strengthening our economic and commercial ties, said the counsellor of the Peruvian mission in Russia.