Peru is continuing to strengthen its position as the world’s largest exporter of table grapes, with an export record expected by the end of 2022.
According to a report by Agraria.pe, Peru’s Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Roberto Sánchez highlighted Peru’s excellent performance in table grape exports over the last couple of years and especially, in the first few months of this year.
“In 2021, Peru became the world’s biggest table grape exporter, overtaking Chile, China and the U.S., countries which, historically, have been leaders in table grape exportation”, emphasized Sánchez.
During the first trimester of 2022, Peruvian table grape exports reached $614 million, growing by 22 percent compared to the same period last year. In particular, 50 percent of exports from the regions of Ica, Piura, Lambayeque and la Libertad went to the U.S. and a further 11 percent to Europe.
At the start of the 21st century, Peruvian table grape exports were worth less than $20 million. Comparatively, in 2021, they were worth $1.25 billion, which was a 21 percent increase on the previous year.
By the end of this year, exports are forecast to reach a new record of $1.4 billion.
With the table grape exportation trend clearly growing fast and gaining space in demanding global markets, Peru’s government, led by President Pedro Castillo, has committed to supporting the agro-export sector as part of the Second Agricultural Reform.
“Today, we are proud of grapes, they are the main product in our national agro-export basket”, said Sánchez. “We will continue to promote their export through capacity-building, commercial promotion and access to new multisectorial markets”, he assured.
Grapes provide a huge quantity of nutrients: antioxidants, vitamin A, B6, C and K, as well as minerals such as calcium, iron and potassium. Today, they are highly valued on an international scale, thanks to growing demand for healthy food.
Notably, demand for seedless grapes has risen in the last few years. Seedless varieties such as Sweet Globe, Crimson, Sweet Celebration, amongst others, represented an estimated 70 percent of the export value of fresh grapes in 2021.
