"The Peruvian cherimoya is experiencing a market with stable demand and stable prices,” is the conclusion of Carlos Arancibia Antinori from Sobifruits, a Peruvian company that markets and exports fruits and vegetables. “Even though this time of the year is a very busy period for our company, it doesn’t really influence the export volumes of cherimoya."Sobrifruits has a broad assortment of fruits and vegetables that they export to for example Japan, the Middle East, Brazil, Colombia and Europe. “A few years ago we started exporting Peruvian cherimoya (Cumbe variety), mainly to Costa Rica. We work with associate growers, with whom we have established a good relationship over the years. The most notable difference of Peruvian cherimoya compared to other cherimoya varieties is that they contain less seeds. Besides this, the fruits are grown organically.”
Carlos explains that the export of cherimoya is only done by airfreight. “It's a very perishable and soft product and the shelf live is remarkably short. This means that the transit period cannot be too long. Resulting in countries not being able to import the Peruvian cherimoya. We already experienced this with a trial shipping to a company from the Czech Republic.”
The demand for cherimoya is growing though, according to Carlos. “We have grown from 1 or 2 shipments in the beginning to a weekly shipment now. All shipments mainly go to Europe, where we have to deal with the competition of Spain. We are trying new markets, for example Canada with a trial shipment. There are more countries that are interested, however we face the problem that our cherimoya isn’t always allowed to enter these countries. A good example in this case is the US even though both Peru and the US are in the TPP agreement. The cherimoya is still on the list of pending products to enter the US. The same goes for Indonesia. We got to know an enthusiastic Indonesian man during the exhibition Expoalimentaria, however it turns out that our Peruvian cherimoya isn't allowed to enter the country”.
Lots of opportunities of which some are for the long term. Till these markets aren't open, Sobifruits is dealing with a stable demand for their cherimoyas and so are prices. “Even the prices don’t fluctuate considerably. There are a few months in the year in which Spain has no production and Peru has less production. Of course the prices increases, but it’s only a slight increase without big consequences."
For more information:
Carlos Arancibia Antinori
Sobifruits
T: 51 326 0415
M: 51 998 900 238
S: comex.sobifruits
www.sobifruits.com