Peru's biggest horticultural company Camposol expects to export avocadoes to the U.S. very soon after a work plan with authorities is finalized in the coming days.

CEO Fabio Matarazzo told www.freshfruitportal.com the entry approval without cold quarantine procedures was a 'victory' for Peruvian agriculture.

"We expect that after the finalization of the work plan together with APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) in the coming days, we'll be able to start shipments," he says.

"Although we are practically at the end of the campaign, we expect that we could still export a reasonable volume this year, which could benefit from very attractive prices in the biggest avocado market in the world, with one of the highest consumption per capita levels.

"Consequently the price in Europe, which has been very depressed in recent weeks, could react as volumes to this traditional destination are re-sized back to the values at the start of the Peruvian campaign."

Matarazzo congratulates the efforts of Peru’s National Agriculture Sanitary Service (SENASA) and industry body Prohass in their work towards the phytosanitary approval.

"For several years we've been betting on the opening of the U.S. market for Peruvian fruit, and in fact the industry and us in particular have invested a lot in new crops. The participation of our fruit in the U.S. is still modest but in the coming years this trend could be reversed.

"The great potential that Peru has thanks to its climate, window of production and quality of its fruits, will transform our country into one of the most important producers of Hass varieties in the world."

Between 2005 and 2010 Peru's Hass avocado exports grew at an average annual rate of 25.8% to a final annual total of 50,000 metric tons (MT).

www.freshfruitportal.com