During 2020, Peruvian blueberry exports grew by 27% over the previous year, reaching 160,000 tons, according to Daniel Bustamante, president of Proarandanos. The prospects for this season are positive. According to the export union and Agronoticias, the sector projects a 22% increase this year that could raise the volume of blueberry exports to 200,000 tons. "This is due to all the investments that were in place for a long time prior to all this disaster," the businessman said.
In 2020, the United States was the main export destination for this Peruvian berry, accounting for 50% of all exports. It was followed by Europe and the United Kingdom, with 36%, and Asia with 13%. The export campaign begins in July and ends in March, the most important period takes place between August and December.
“In general, prices have fallen slightly, but not by much. There are other origins that had lower production volumes. Even Peru had lower volumes than projected,” he stated.
High operating costs
“Meanwhile, there has been an increase in operating costs and in the costs of taking the product to the port. The pandemic has brought additional costs to be able to comply with all the safety requirements, such as keeping a safe distance between workers, having fewer people working, and changing working hours. That has had a significant increase in logistics costs. The cost of production and packaging also went up. In addition, the logistics operation costs to take the product from the packing plant to the port also increased because of the pandemic,” Bustamante stated.
Logistics costs during the pandemic increased by up to 10% depending on each company, supplier, and region, the businessman said. The cost of fertilizers also spiked, he noted.
Source: agronoticias.pe