Peru is seeking to export more products to the United States, one of the main destinations for the country's blueberries, asparagus, and table grapes. According to Gabriel Amaro, the executive director of the Association of Agricultural Producers Guilds of Peru (AGAP), almost a dozen new products are in the process of obtaining health certificates to access this market, including fresh tomatoes, custard apple, pomegranates, aguaymanto, raspberry, common lemon, and pitahaya. “The procedures for each product are in different states. We've requested access for cherimoya and passion fruit since 2013 and they have a good level of production," he said.
According to Amaro, these are long processes that have now been delayed because of the pandemic. However, he said, these products will have great demand in that market once they are granted access there. as American consumers prefer healthy products with antioxidants, as is already the case with citrus fruits, blueberries, and Hass avocado.
Opportunities and new crops
According to Marco Vinelli, the director of ESAN's Master in Agribusiness Administration, the FTA signed in 2009 has been a determining factor to export to the United States. In just 10 years, exports to this destination have gone from 8 billion dollars a year to more than 15 billion.
“Exports of non-traditional products, such as grapes, avocados, blueberries, and asparagus, which have been sent to the United States for several years, have had the highest growth in value. There are still products that we can continue to send, such as mango,” he said, adding that passion fruit could also represent a good option in the US market.
He also said there were also interesting products in the testing phase, such as cherry. "The test we're carrying out with these products would allow us to have a commercial production in the medium term to enter the American market," he said.
Source: peru21.pe