The Peruvian Foreign Trade Society (Comex Peru) estimated that the raspberry It would be the new Peruvian fruit with the highest export expectations among national products for the coming years.

The union specified that Peruvian raspberries have only been exported in small quantities to different countries for amounts not exceeding US $ 5,000. However, this situation could change if the product enters the United States, the main partner of the agro-export sector in Peru, an issue that is being worked on.

If this happens, the raspberry Peruvian could follow a similar route to the blueberries, flagship product of the country's agro-export basket.

“In addition, the income of the raspberry Peruvians to the United States would make the interest in investing in this crop on the part of Peruvian agroindustrial companies to increase exponentially ", said the manager of Economic Studies of Comex Peru, Rafael Zacnich.

Comex Peru explained that in 2019, the United States imported raspberries for a total of US $ 1.36 million, an increase of almost 20% compared to the previous year. This evolution has been constant since 2017 and it is estimated that it would continue in this line, an aspect that would be very beneficial for Peruvian raspberries and, in general, for the national agro-export basket.

If they were to enter this market, Peruvian agro-exporters would have Mexico as their main competitor, which concentrates 99% of the purchases of raspberries from the United States. In 2019, the Mexican agro-export sector sold raspberries to the United States for US $ 1.35 million.

Other products

The Comex Peru representative explained that the raspberry leads and is part of a group of six new agro-export products that have a great potential demand abroad and that could gain prominence in the Peruvian agro-export basket in the coming years.

The other crops are the granadilla, aguaymanto, pitahaya and turmeric. He specified that cherry is also the seventh product, but its cultivation is still in a trial period.

Zacnich said that turning that potential into a reality will depend on the United States issuing sanitary authorizations to enter its market.

"One factor that demonstrates the opportunity these fruits would have is that since the pandemic began, in the main markets of the world they are looking for crops that have antioxidants and are healthy", he said.

For this reason, he added, it is very likely that they will consolidate in the coming years. "We know the interest they generate and the potential they may have when health certificates are obtained, not necessarily in 2021, but in the coming years", he maintained.

Currently, these products are sent as samples to different markets. Only the passion fruit is already exported to destinations such as Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, France and Italy. Granadilla shipments in 2019 reached US $ 345,000.