Westfalia Fruit Peru, a subsidiary of the multinational Westfalia Group, is one of the main fruit exporting companies in the country. With its focus on the export of avocado, the company has positioned itself as one of the companies that lead international shipments of this fruit. With these results and already having a presence in the market with shipments of mandarin and mango, the company has now decided to take a new step to diversify its agro-export offer. In conversation with Gestión, Omar Díaz, general manager of the exporter, announced his foray into the blueberry export market, adding to the growing boom of this fruit.

Westfalia's business model is leveraged on production chains. That is, they integrate small, medium and large producers into their export chain. In that sense, the more than 4,000 hectares of production they have come from allied producers located in 15 regions of the country's mountain and jungle coast.

According to Díaz, the blueberry production pilot should have started last year; However, due to the El Niño Phenomenon, they decided to delay the first production for this year.

The bet on berries

The Westfalia Fruit Perú pilot has already borne fruit and the first harvest is expected to be exported starting in August. This is a production of 30 containers with approximately 500 tons that will be sent to the United States, Europe and Asia.

“This first harvest comes from our producers in Lambayeque and Áncash. We are working with the Matías variety, but we are also evaluating venturing into other varieties.

“We are working to implement a production plan focused on the high genetic quality of the plants, with the aim of ensuring significant volumes of high-quality products for the international market,” explains Díaz. On the other hand, although the pilot has started in Lambayeque and Áncash, the general manager of the agro-exporter indicated that his future plans include expanding this blueberry planting project in other areas where the maximum benefit can be obtained.

“After this first shipment, our projection is to have an annual growth of 15% to 20%. That is the objective we have set,” says the general manager.