Agricultural exports from Peru reached US$1.71bn during the first half of the year, according to the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (Minagri), and reported by Andina Peru.
Within the fresh fruit and vegetable category, the agency’s Office of Statistical and Economic Studies (OEEE) said there was an increase in shipments of fresh avocados (up by 16,000 tonnes), fresh mangoes (16,000 tonnes), bananas (7,000 tonnes) clementines (2,000 tonnes) and strawberries (2,000 tonnes).
Meanwhile, non-traditional agricultural exports totalled US$1.53bn, representing a 5.2 per cent growth of exports compared with 2012 (US$1.46nn) and accounting for 89.58 per cent of total exports.
This performance was due to higher sales of asparagus in its three types: fresh, canned and frozen, which increased by 14.27 per cent (US$28m), while mangoes grew by 9.27 per cent (US$12m), fresh table grapes by 8.83 per cent (US$10m) and fresh avocados by 17.83 per cent (US$15m).
Peru's Foreign Trade Society, Comex Peru, said Peru’s fresh or refrigerated asparagus have grown on average by about 13 per cent a year since 2008 due to a 8.7 per cent increase in the annual average asparagus prices between 2008 and 2012.
According to official data, asparagus was the country’s top non-traditional agricultural export in the first half of 2013 and also the third-most-exported non-traditional product in that period.
During the same period, Comex Peru said fresh table grapes were up against the January-June period last year due to a large increase in shipments to Asia and the US.
Citing official figures, ComexPeru said Peru’s fresh grapes were the second-most exported agricultural product in this period and ranked sixth among non-traditional exports in general.
The main export market for Peruvian agricultural exports during the first half was the US, which absorbed 24.2 per cent of the total sendings.
The Netherlands followed with 15.05 per cent, Spain (6.34 per cent), Ecuador (5.5 per cent), Germany (4.99 per cent) and Colombia (4.34 per cent), which all together accounted for 60.46 per cent of total exports.
