According to Carlos Posada, the executive director of the Foreign Trade Research and Development Institute (IDEXCAM) of the Chamber of Commerce of Lima (CCL), Peruvian exports could be affected by the application of a new health inspection fee by the United States, as US importers would transfer that cost to their Peruvian suppliers, who would be forced to assume these costs to remain in the market North American.
According to the specialist, this increase in the costs of inspection upon arrival could seriously affect agricultural export products, such as grapes and blueberries, which require cold treatment. In 2016 the exports of these products amounted to US $660 million and US $242 million, respectively.
The new surcharge imposed by the US authority would also affect asparagus, as it is a product that needs fumigation treatment. In 2016 exports of this product amounted to US $ 421 million.
Posada said that, since 2015, the APHIS had been charging for a sanitary treatment fee to the agro-export containers that required fumigation at the destination, and that this fee had increased year after year.
This year, the sanitary inspection rate was set at US $142 per container, much higher than the US $ 47 that was charged in 2015. This rate will increase to US $190 and US $237 in 2018 and 2019, respectively, Posada said.
Source: gestion.pe