Peru’s main export crops of table grapes, blueberries, mangoes and avocados are working hard to restore export volumes following the riots and state of emergency of the past two weeks and to recover potential losses estimated to be well over $150 million. The impact of these major disruptions can be seen in the latest preliminary statistics, prepared by Fluctuante, which shows the rapid reduction of tons exported between weeks 49 and 50 in 2022 versus the same time last year.
Peru's President Dina Boluarte and her Cabinet are holding countrywide meetings.
According to Fluctuante’s founders David Sandoval and Estefania Ruiz, who specially prepared the statistics: “These are early and preliminary statistics that will still be updated, however it does show the immediate impact. The political scenario in Peru affected companies and exporters differently. It affected the exchange with other countries in different ways in terms of time values, quantities and exports. We hope this scenario will change in the following weeks to increase our numbers. Because we have great expectations compared to last year. There were several roadblocks across the country, an airport was blocked, exporters could not continue sending fruit to ports, but now it is returning to normal. There are many roads that are not blocked anymore and the situation is improving. Now the focus for exporters is to catch up with the backlogs.”
Mangoes also heading to the peak weeks of the season was -81.43% less
César Morocho, from Peru’s Association of Mango Producers and Exporters (APEM), said to Agraria.pe, the impact of delayed exports will be felt in their key US market, which receives about 35% of their product. US importers have indicated to him that they are seeking alternative suppliers in Ecuador while the situation stabilises in Peru.
Table grapes heading to the peak of the season had a -81.15% reduction.
Blueberries, that is going towards the end of the season, was -57.99% down.
Avocados, at the last part of the season, was -93.18% lower.
Peru’s Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Luis Helguero, indicated that the Peruvian government has been working to guarantee free vehicular traffic and thereby normalize scheduled shipments of agricultural export products. “Our agro-exporters want and need to continue working. The opening of highways will allow us to restore shipments to maintain the continuous growth that the sector has experienced this year," said Minister Helguero.
According to estimates from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur), foreign sales of fresh fruits and vegetables could be reduced by US$ 21 million per day of demonstration, a figure that has an impact on the continuous growth that the sector has experienced during the year 2022.
Rodrigo Bedoya, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of organic ginger and avocado exporter La Grama, recounts the devastating developments in Peru and the effect on their business and employees. They work with a large group of growers with farms located across Peru. “We have had extremely violent civil unrest all over the country for the last two weeks here in Peru. 30 fellow Peruvians have died. We had to shut our packing house down and cease operations entirely for one whole week, while focusing on keeping everybody safe. At one point, some of our team members had no more food. It is extremely hard to run a business in an underdeveloped country like ours. And that is one of the reasons why we fight every day against informality and illegality and to do things right.”
“We are 33 million Peruvians that want to live in peace; violence came from a few thousand. The extreme inequality is why radical extremists can convince a few thousand to become so violent, leading to more than 30 deaths and over 300 wounded, many in critical condition. 70% of Peruvians live in the informal/illegal economy. Without any social security whatsoever. No access to healthcare, education, good food, security, transportation, infrastructure, etc. With millions living in those conditions, being abandoned by the state makes it so easy for extremists to convince some to become violent. When companies in the global north buy from informal/illegal suppliers hiding behind the excuse of these suppliers having certificates, they contribute to inequality, perpetuating informality and ultimately to deadly violence. Think twice about your purchase decisions' impact. Cheap has a hidden cost, always. And somebody is paying the consequences of the obsession with financial results at any cost,” stated Bedoya.
The new Peruvian government of President Dina Boluarte, declared a state of emergency lasting 30 days to quell the unrest, thereby assisting the export fruit industry to resume operations in this critical harvest period. Bedoya says while the violence stopped, they all hope order will be permanently restored. “In our specific area of operation, the violence stopped on Sunday (18 December), and we opened and started operating again. In other parts of the country, riots and violence lasted for a couple more days. It is calmer now, but we don't know if the calm will be permanent or not. Some say there are threats of riots and violence starting again.”
The Peruvian President Boluarte and State Ministers are travelling the country to meet with industries, regional and provincial roleplayers, churches and unions to listen to the needs of citizens. A heavy police and army presence remains throughout the country.
For more information:
David Sandoval
Fluctuante
Tel: +51 936 336 499
Email: [email protected]
www.fluctuante.lat
Rodrigo Bedoya
La Grama
Tel: +51 1 628 6580
www.lagramaperu.com