Miguel Cordano Rodriguez, the general manager of Sierra Exportadora, said that if the production of blueberries maintained its current growth rate, exports of this fruit could exceed $200 million dollars.
During his participation in the International Decentralized Berries-Regions 2016 Seminar in Trujillo, Cordano said on behalf of the executive president of Sierra Exportadora, Alfonso Velasquez Tuesta, that the organization's goal was to close this year with about 2,300 hectares of blueberries, 2,500 hectares more than last year.
"There is a huge unmet demand for berries in the world, that's why I encourage producers to continue investing in these crops (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, aguaymanto, and cherries) to meet the demand, not only in volume, but also in quality. That way we'll diversify our product offer and markets," added Cordano.
Main destinations
According to the general manager of Sierra Exportadora, the United States, Europe, and Hong Kong are Peru's main export destination as they purchase 95% of the production of the country's blueberries.
Blueberry prices fluctuate between $9 and 14 dollars per kilo, approximately.
Considerable growth
Alfonso Velasquez, executive president of Sierra Exportadora, welcomed the participation in the seminar of producers, suppliers, exporters, and general public, that are interested in joining the national berries production chain.
"When we launched the Peru Berries program in November 2011, we started almost from zero; then in 2012 we closed with $465,000 dollars and had a big jump in 2013, to no less than 5.1 million. Then in 2014 we achieved $29.2 million dollars, and we achieved more than 94 million dollars in 2015," Velasquez said.
Sierra Exportadora has identified potential areas to develop new ventures in berries, preparing different maps for raspberry, blueberry and aguaymanto. There is also a berries catalogue for those who wish to join the berry export boom .
