The team at Peru's largest agri-export company Camposol are celebrating a new milestone this month, with the company's first exports of fresh mandarins to the United States.

The shipment from the La Libertad region on July 8 was permissible after inspections were undertaken by the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

According to Peru's Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MINAGRI), the country's mandarin exports are expected to rise 39% by 2020; this presents both a challenge and an opportunity for Camposol, which has planted 101 hectares of easy peelers that require 800 staff during peak periods.

Camposol's managing director for fruits and vegetables, Javier Morales, said the U.S. had great potential as a market with the population consuming 700,000 metric tons (MT) of mandarins on average per year.

"There is a great opportunity in the United States market, mainly in the window when Peru produces and exports most of its mandarins, which is between the months of May to October - this is due to the seasonality of local mandarin production," Morales said in a release.

Camposol expects to reach 600 hectares of easy peeler production by 2018, which would imply exports of more than 1,000 containers between April and October.

In 2015 Peru exported around 100,800MT of mandarins.

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