Peru seeks to increase fruit exports to Southeast Asia

Peru’s exports of agrifood products to Southeast Asia were down 36.1% year-on-year during the first six months of 2022, totalling US$187 million. This fall has prompted exporters association ADEX to call for an effective work agenda to take better advantage of these markets, which include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The director of the Global Economy and Business Research Center (CIEN-ADEX), Edgar Vásquez, said: 

In agribusiness, grapes are the most shipped Peruvian fruit to the world, exceeding US$1 billion in 2021. But these nations’ grape imports total over US$ 1,054 million, of which Peru only represents 2%.

Peru holds a similar share of the region’s markets for fresh mandarins, avocados, blueberries, among others.

Vasquez added:

“We are taking advantage of opportunities little by little but the potential of this block is still very large and the participation is very low. This is a clear sign that we must take a better look at these destinations, open up more opportunities, look at the cases where trade agreements do not yet exist, finalize negotiations, and complement them with an aggressive agenda of sanitary opening that will allow our leading products to position themselves.

Last year, Peru imported almost US$2.2 billion from Asean members, while exports only amounted to US$653 million.

Vazquez stressed the importance of the Free Trade Agreements in force with Thailand and Singapore. 

In the case of Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam, we are united by the Trans-Pacific Agreement, although the latter two have not yet been ratified,” he said.