Peru has set its sights set on opening 12 new export market destinations in the future. This follows the recent opening and first exports to Portugal, Israel and Jordan, all in the current 2022 campaign. “It is our goal to have one additional market opening before the end of this season, but we cannot know yet as it depends on several factors,” says Luis Miguel Vegas, general manager of the Association of Blueberries Producers of Peru (ProArándanos).
Peru has made its mark in 62 international markets as the top producer and exporting country of blueberries. Proarandanos estimates the country will export about 25% more than last year’s 250,000 tons of blueberries for the current 2022-2023 season.
However, the sole focus is not on stellar growth but to diversify markets, spread the risk and increase the sales opportunities for Peruvian blueberry producing and exporting companies. Given the global risks and shocks, to not be over reliant on a few key markets is the lesson Peru’s relatively young blueberry industry has adopted from the start. “What is important for us is to achieve a greater diversity of markets that will increase opportunities for the companies. We currently have 12 destinations in the process of opening,” explains Miguel Vegas.
Opening new markets does not happen overnight. It is a huge and ongoing effort by government and its ministries, embassies and agencies such as Senasa, industry, various specialists as well several counterpart agencies in the target countries. It is commonly known that it takes between 10-15 years to open a single new market for a commodity. This makes the pace at which Peru is able to open new markets for blueberries the envy of competitor countries.
Miguel Vegas gives a glimpse of how Peru gets it right: “Senasa has been holding bilateral technical meetings with the agencies in these destinations to determine sanitary and phytosanitary requirements. It maintains constant communication with its peers to expedite the exchange of technical information necessary for the opening of new markets. In addition, together with Proarandanos, it has been coordinating with the government's international trade agencies to promote the opening processes.”
It is also no small feat to keep track of exactly at what step and stage each country is along that path of ultimately gaining market access. “There are destinations with more advanced processes than others. Among the list of destinations in process we have Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, among others,” states Miguel Vegas.
For more information:
Luis Miguel Vegas
Proarandanos
Tel: +51 980 503 363
Email: [email protected]
www.proarandanos.org