Peru: Agro-food exports grow 8% in 2016

Peruvian agro-food exports have totaled US $ 5.550 million dollars in 2016, an increase of 8% over 2015, when the country’s agro-exports reached US $ 5.128 million, According to data provided by the Agro Management of the Association of Exporters (ADEX).

However, from this organization it is pointed out that despite this increase, exports of Peruvian agro-food products do not reach levels of previous years, when they exceed 30%.

In the case of traditional agro-food exports (more than 873 million), the number has been improved by the recovery of coffee, which represents 86.6% of the total subsector. However, it should be mentioned that the amount exported of the aromatic grain in 2016 (756,424 million dollars) is almost half of what was sent in 2011, when it touched 1.593 million dollars.

Other primary agricultural exports with lower export weights are cane sugar ($ 67.13 million), non-carded wool ($ 18.117 million), hides and skins ($ 11.9 million). While the first one has experienced a growth of 49%, the other two has fallen 3.8% and 9.6%, respectively.
The main destination of agricultural shipments in 2016 were the United States (246,500 million), Germany (197,870 million), Belgium (79,953 million), Sweden, Colombia, Canada, Italy and South Korea.

Since ADEX’s Agro Management, attention has been drawn to the growing demand from other countries, such as India (290.1%), Egypt (205.5%), United Arab Emirates (190.3%), Hong Kong ), Mexico (48.4%) and Australia (24.4%).

The first exporting companies, according to ADEX Data Trade, are Perales Huancaruna S.A.C., Olam Agro Peru S.A.C., Compañía Internacional del Café S.A.C., Procesadora del Sur S.A. and Louis Dreyfus Company Peru S.R.L., among others.

Exports of agro-industry

On the other hand, the agro-industry-agriculture sub-sector (US $ 4,677 million) showed a growth of 6%, which, however, is lower than in previous years.

In 2011, Peruvian agro-industry exports grew 29%, in 2014, 23% and in 2010, 22%

Regarding the items, the grape (650,673 million) has decreased by 8.1% compared to 2015. The same has happened with fresh asparagus (420,309 million) which decreased by 0.3%. The avocado by its side, has experienced a significant increase, reaching last year the 396,700 million dollars. Another impressive rise has been the blueberry, which has gone from 32.416 million dollars in 2010 to 241.174 million in 2016.

As ADEX’s Agro manager Paula Carrión Tello explained, the new consumption trends in the main destination markets, linked to the need to purchase nutritious and healthy products, as well as functional foods, have driven the demand for some Fruits and Peruvian Andean grains. Among the most dynamic products in 2016 are passionfruit juice, canned mango, chia, kiwicha, giant couscous, among others.

In 2016 the supply of agroindustrial-agricultural products reached 139 countries, ranking the United States ($ 1,512 million), the Netherlands (716,724 million), Spain (325,193 million), and the United Kingdom (263.80 million. Other destinations include Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Canada, Germany and China

In the last six years, the highest growth rate of agro-exports in total (primary agrarian sector and agro-industry) has been that of 2011 (42%), while in 2010 it was 31%.