In spite of natural disasters, Peruvian agro-exports expanded 5% in 2017's first quarter, thus totaling US$1.250 billion, Agriculture and Irrigation Ministry (Minagri) informed.
As is known, Peru was recently at the mercy of "Coastal El Niño" phenomenon characterized by heavy rains, landslides and floods. They destroyed infrastructure and crops, as well as left many citizens homeless.
Growth was underpinned by greater sales of traditional (+13%) and non-traditional (+5%) agro-products.
Among main exported items, fine alpaca hair (+84%), animal feed (+40%), artichokes (+31%), fresh grapes (+24%), quinoa (+17%), unroasted non-decaffeinated coffee (+12%) and fresh mangoes (+5%) stood out.
The positive result was also driven by growing demand from: South Korea (+107%), Russia (+52%), China (+45%), Belgium (+25%), Spain (+24%), the United States (+12%), Chile (+11%), Ecuador (+10%) and Brazil (+9%), among others.
Traditional
Traditional agro-exports reached US$103 million in the January-March 2017 period, a 13% increase over the same period last year.
Said rise was mainly explained by non-roasted coffee shipments, which accounted for 70% of total traditional exports.
Non-traditional
Non-traditional agro-exports rose 5% in the analyzed term, thus reaching US$1.147 billion and accounting for 92% of the total.
In this group, shipments of fresh grapes, Cavendish Valery bananas, frozen mangoes, prepared asparagus and quinoa, among others, stood out.
Markets
Peruvian agro-exports arrived in 124 countries.
Top destinations were the United States (28% of total exports), the Netherlands (14%), Spain (7%), China (5%), Ecuador (4%), Hong Kong (3%), England (3%), Colombia (3%), Germany (3%) and Chile (3%).
The said countries received 73% of exports.
(END) NDP/JHM/MVB