The first AgroForum international conference for the Peruvian agriculture industry got off to a successful start last week at the La Molina National Agrarian University in the capital Lima.
Organised by industry and market analyst inform@acción, AgroForum 2011 welcomed an experienced delegation of speakers from Latin America, the US and Europe to the event held on 23-25 February.
Opening the event, Carlos Tori of Interbank explained that Peru has a “very bright” future ahead, with important growth set to come from the agriculture industry on the back of production and export expansion supported by the country’s rising number of Free Trade Agreements.
As part of that growth, Ronald Bown, president of the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association (Asoex) revealed that Chile will invest some US$2.8bn in the Peruvian fruit industry by 2021 – a little less than Chile’s total agricultural exports in 2010 (US$3.4bn) – with investment rising to US$100m this year alone.
“Chilean fruit investment in Peru has great potential and in this sense Chile has played an important role in the technical consultancy process to drive different products like table grapes and avocados, among others,” Mr Bown explained to delegates.
Rather than being a competitor, Mr Bown said Peru represents an important complementary source of fruit during certain periods of the year when Chilean offer is scarce – for items such as avocados and table grapes.
Isabel Quiroz of fruit analyst IQonsulting agreed with Mr Bown, suggesting that the two countries could become complementary markets for table grape, mandarin and avocado exports, providing uniform quality is offered.
“Peru and Chile have many complementary features – above all the desire to offer the same quality,” Ms Quiroz explained.
Of Chile’s 700 fruit exporting companies, around 50 firms already operate some form of interest or participation in the Peruvian fruit sector, according to Mr Bown.
He explained that interest is now rising in making further concrete investment in Peru-based exporters as well as acquiring production sites.
However, Mr Bown recommended that legislation (regarding this type of investment) needs to be established in order to give greater clarity and regulatory stability.
A full report from AgroForum 2011 will be published in the April 2011 issue of Eurofruit Magazine.
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