Peru bets on diversifying citrus exports to Vietnam, Philippines and New Zealand

Peru is getting stronger Diversification of Peruvian Citrus Markets And from Peru’s Citrus Producers Association (ProCitrus), they say they hope to finalize them in the coming years, 2023 at the earliest.

They opened up the Indian market last year, with exports reaching North America, Europe and Asia, however, a logistical crisis caused delays and containers are yet to arrive in the country.

Sergio del Castillo, general manager of the association, told Portal Fruticola Logistics affected them greatly. Citrus fruits are one of the cheapest fruits, fetching very few cents per kilo, hence, farmers are affected by cost increase and to avoid fruit loss, they decide not to export. Added to the above is global and national inflation, which along with the devaluation of the dollar against the euro, creates additional losses for producers.

Citrus fruits have established themselves as a staple in the world diet. In 2021, the epidemic increased the demand for these fruits in Peru by 46%, however, Del Castillo warns that the demand will no longer be as it was in the previous two years, With high costs, they provide an important overview for this product. “Those varieties or more expensive new varieties will withstand this crisis, but older varieties such as Valencia oranges or lemons do not have a good situation in the coming years, that is, their prices will not improve, they will last. Fruits at the right time.”

Sergio del Castillo, General Manager of Procitrus.

Campaign 2022 will have the same size as 2021

According to Data from Ministry of Agricultural Development and Irrigation (Midagri)Citrus harvested area in Peru in 2020 was 74,776 ha (orange 28,339 ha, lemon 24,911 ha, mandarin 17,555 ha, grapefruit 3,971 ha).

The Citrus campaign ended in September 2022 and from ProCitrus — That RThey unite 85% of the country’s exports and represent the main valleys producing more than 9,000 hectares of cultivated citrus in Peru –They expect to export 250 thousand tons, which will be the same as last year.

But income created problems in the campaign, and the second category of fruit remained in Peru due to high-demand markets demanding premium fruit. “That’s one of the reasons why we didn’t grow this year, because we used to export second-class fruit several years before Covid, but the markets don’t want it anymore,” says the association’s general manager.

In terms of challenges, it is trying to sustain the growing trend of the last 20 years and connect more small farmers. ProCitrus has an advisory program to include small farmers in the export chain, a social responsibility to help the growth of the Peruvian citrus industry and pass on the knowledge they have acquired.