The table grape, blueberry and avocado industries in the embattled nation of Peru are able to continue packing with about two weeks of stocks that will likely hit market at the same time. Experts expect a concentration of volumes of this and other export fruit from Peru due to backlogs from last week’s widespread riots and state of emergency that was declared.
Photo: Agraria.pe
An expert who works with a large group of producers commented: “Due to the delay in harvesting and timely shipping blueberries are said to have ‘soft’ fruit. We will have a problem, but we can load in other parts that are less affected by the strikes, that is making it not as bad as we were suspecting it would be. However, the business is under severe pressure due to the high peak and concentration of harvesting. This is also the case for the avocado industry.”
Updated statements on the effect of the riots, from the Peruvian table grape association, Provid, as well as the blueberry industry body ProArándanos, are awaited this week. Last week they were assessing the impact, potential damages and waited on the state of emergency to calm things down in the country before issuing statements about what to expect from their respective industry’s going forward.
Provid said the table grape industry, particularly in the main production area of Ica where the protesters were very active, lost around $10 million a day. Workers who harvest and pack the export fruit, who could not reach the farms and pack houses for days while the riots raged, already lost millions in wages. According to the Association of Agrarian Producers Guilds of Peru (AGAP), as much as 150 000 workers were affected.
Despite the state of emergency declared by the new Peruvian President Dina Boluarte about 20 people have lost their lives and dozens are injured and hospitalised since the ousting of the former President Pedro Castillo. Several thousand tourists were also stuck in Machu Picchu since last week as key roads were blocked by protestors. The most vulnerable were airlifted by helicopter, while many had to walk for about 30 kilometres to neighbouring towns to reach transport connections.
For more information:
PROVID
Email: [email protected]
www.provid.org.pe
ProArándanos
Tel: +51 980 503 363
Email: [email protected]
www.proarandanos.org