A state of emergency has been declared in the Peruvian provinces of Arequipa, Huancavelica, and Ica due to the heavy rains, landslides and floods that have occurred over the past week. So far, there have been more than a dozen deaths, a lot of destroyed homes, blocked roads, countless material damage, and many alerts as local medical centers are over-whelmed.
These natural phenomena led to the flooding of the Huamani, Yauca del Rosario, and Seco rivers, in Ica, affecting grape crops. Carlos Zamorano, from Provid, said these damages wouldn't significantly affect the campaign. "Fortunately, we are in the final stage of our harvest and export process, so the damages are much lower than they would have been a few weeks ago."
"Some companies weren't affected at all because they had already finished their harvest, while others had to rush the harvest to avoid losses. Initially, we had reports of export delays because some farmers who already had harvested the fruit and had it at the packaging centers had difficulties transporting their product out. At the moment, things are getting back to normal and there are only a few producers with fruit in the vineyards," Zamorrano said.
Total losses are still unknown, but producers expect they will be insignificant in terms of the campaign's total export volume.