A team of specialists from the Taiwanese plant health authority BAPHIQ travelled to Peru last week to visit production sites ahead of plans to allow imports of a number of Peruvian fruits to Taiwan.
The group visited La Libertad, Ica and Lima to observe phytosanitary controls, quarantine and monitoring systems in blueberries, avocados and pomegranates.
Ivan Yueh-Jung Lee of the Taiwanese embassy in Lima said the process for blueberry imports was already well advanced.
“We have an order, first blueberries, then avocados and then we want to promote Peruvian pomegranates,” he said.
Peru already exports asparagus and table grapes to Taiwan, and Chen Tse-Wei, director of BAPHIQ, said he did not foresee any obstacles to clearing exports of blueberries.
With a population of 23.5m, Taiwan has one of the world’s highest per capita consumption rates of fresh fruit. In 2017, the country imported US$742m worth of fresh fruit. The US was the biggest supplier, followed by New Zealand, Chile and Japan.
Taiwan is one of several markets being targeted by Peru as it blueberry output soars. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, work is also underway to open up South Korea, Guatemala, India, Japan, Malaysia and South Africa.
