The Peruvian government has signed an agreement with China Eastern Airlines to transport Peruvian products to China.
As previously reported on Fruitnet, the first consignment of blueberries and prawns will depart for Shanghai from Lima on 21 November during the state visit of president Xi Jinping.
Peru’s minister of foreign trade and tourism, Eduardo Ferreyros, said the deal establishes a direct cargo route between Peru and mainland China and will boost sales of high quality Peruvian products to China’s 1.4bn consumers.
As part of the agreement, the airline will support efforts to introduce Peruvian products into the Chinese market.
“Eastern Air Logistics will collaborate with online platforms Alibaba, Benlai and Womai, and speciality greengrocer Pagoda in introducing Peruvian products to the market and facilitating presales of these goods,” Ferreyros said.
Eastern Air Logistics has undertaken to organise further cargo flights in the coming months as and when the demand exists.
For its part, Mincetur has committed to providing assistance from its trade offices in Beijing and Shanghai to achieve the maximum volume of shipments, while PromPerú will disseminate information to exporters on the services being made available by the airline.
According to foreign trade bureau ComexPeru, Peru is the 10th largest exporter of fruit in the world, with sendings between January and August this year totalling US$2.7bn.
Avocados led the charge in non-traditional agricultural exports, fuelled by high global demand and the recent opening of the Chinese market.
Peru exported 59 tonnes of avocados to China in 2015 and sendings so far this year have topped 3,500 tonnes.
Peru also became Latin America’s biggest mandarin exporter in the first eight months of this year with shipments totalling US$106.8m.
Blueberry exports during the same period reached US$41.3m, an increase of 126 per cent on last year.
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