Peruvian agricultural exports have maintained constant growth, despite the international logistics crisis and the serious national political situation. The positive dynamics of the sector is due to the good response to changes in world demand and the good reception of Peruvian products.

This year, Peruvian agricultural exports have maintained constant growth, despite the international logistics crisis and the serious national political situation. The positive dynamics of the sector is due to the correct response to changes in world demand and the good reception of Peruvian products in the international market. However, not all products had the same performance this year.

EXPORT DYNAMICS

In the first quarter, Peruvian agricultural exports totaled close to US$ 2,258 million, 20% higher than the same period in 2021. This good start generated very good expectations in the different actors in the sector, even more so that these results occurred at one point height of the logistics crisis. It was expected that only the classic leaders of the export basket (blueberries, avocados and grapes) would replicate their achievements in 2022. However, in these first months coffee surprised by quintupling the value of its shipments compared to 2021, heading towards being a great candidate for leader of the Peruvian agricultural offer.

In the second quarter of the year, despite the fact that the price of containers fell, the prioritization of the international market for products of geographically close origins began to be noticed. Given this, the agro-exporting companies had an agile response reconsidering the destination of their productions. In this second quarter, 1,766 million were exported, 9% higher than the same period of the previous year. Prices did not fully favor leading products such as avocados or asparagus, but the increase in production was enough to sustain overall growth. In addition, smaller volume goods such as garlic, olives and beans managed to grow in the value of their shipments due to the difficulties of their competitors in supplying markets near Peru. However, not all were successes. Products such as bananas were seriously affected by this logistics crisis. The drop in the price of this tropical fruit caused returns to reach subsistence levels. This translated into a reduction of almost 16% in the value and volume of shipments.

In the third quarter of the year, agricultural products increased their growth rate, reaching 16%, with a total of US$ 2,825 million exported. This generated the expectation that the US$10,000 barrier could be broken for the first time at the end of the year. However, there were several drawbacks, such as the drop in the price of coffee, which had started in an extraordinary way at the beginning of the year. Already having amassed close to US$860 million in shipments, this grain drastically reduced its growth rate to approximately 70%. This result was not compared to the rates of 600% shown at the beginning of the year. For its part, blueberries also presented growth in the value of their shipments of almost 12%. With this, it was already possible to discern that for the first time four products would break the barrier of US$ 1,000 million at the end of the year, which would be blueberries, coffee, grapes and avocados.

In this last stretch of the year, the leading products show a firm step. Blueberries and grapes are going through a slight increase in the value of their shipments, while avocados and asparagus, despite the drop in prices, have managed to maintain the amount of shipments. On the other hand, expectations for coffee were completely deflated due to the drastic reduction in its value in the international market. With this, at this time of the year, the four leading agricultural products have already broken the barrier of US$ 1,000 million for the first time in history.

At the beginning of November, there was an expectation of obtaining a growth close to 16% compared to last year, exceeding US$ 10,000 million. However, due to the serious social conflicts generated in recent weeks, agricultural exports will be affected. The blockades on the roads and the demonstrations have made it difficult for products such as blueberries, which are in the middle of their campaign, to get out. Due to this, it is considered that this situation could affect growth by around 3 percentage points (leaving the total annual agricultural exports at 9,953 million), putting at risk reaching the goal of the desired five-figure number.