"Peruvian grapes from November to March"

"100% of the products exported by these companies to the United States go through us," explains Frank Telge, vice president of Andean Sun. The company distributes Peruvian products to major supermarkets, such as Costco and Walmart. "The idea is to develop effective programs for our customers." To this end, it has branches in important U.S. ports: Miami, Los Angeles, Houston, New York and, more recently, Savannah. Via the latter, they are able to ship the products to their customers in Atlanta without having to go through Miami or Philadelphia. "It will save everyone money; we will manage to be more competitive and pay more to the producers," points out Telge.

"This season, we have been the first to import citrus and grapes to Savannah, and we also plan to ship a container of blueberries. These have been tests," continues the importer, who stresses that, while these tests have been well received, it is still too early to know how imports will be affected, and that preparations should be made for more volumes.

Andean Sun works primarily with two Peruvian companies: Talsa, which grows blueberries and has 1,000 hectares of blueberries in Peru, and La Calera, Peru's largest citrus producer, which also produces grapes, avocados and mangoes.

When it comes to grapes, Telge states that the Peruvian industry has experienced an astonishing growth, since Peru has many different climates, allowing grapes to grow almost all year round, although some regions are more suitable than others for the planting of certain varieties. "For early grapes, grown from October, the north is more suitable. La Calera has a plantation in the north, in Piura, where it grows red and green grapes, including a new variety called Sweet Gold. Moreover, in the south, in Ica, it produces mainly red grapes: Flame, Crimson, as well as the new Sweet Celebration. These varieties arrive in December and can remain available until May. "We can have grapes on the market from November to March," affirms Telge.

According to the importer, the feedback from customers has been excellent, especially thanks to the consistent and reliable supply when other countries fail to deliver. He adds that Peru's calm weather conditions, without frost or heavy rains, help predict the development of the production quite accurately. "The only phenomenon we suffer is El Niño, every eight years on average. It can be disastrous, but also not too serious; this year we still don't know how hard it will hit. In the north, where it often has the greatest impact, we're already finished with the grapes and mangoes." Telge expects temperatures to maybe rise in April and May, as well as a few weeks' delay in the citrus harvest, but the situation is under control.

He believes that Peru still has a long road ahead. "We are in the process of learning. Five or ten years ago, there were no grapes in northern Peru, and now it produces more than the south." He concludes by pointing out that the current demand is greater than what the country is able to produce at the moment, but that there are plans to increase the production volumes of all its products.