Peruvian grapes

Peruvian grape exporters are likely to benefit from a 20 per cent rise in exports to Russia, following strong growth in demand in the market over the past two years.

This was the assessment of Fernando Cillóniz, president of agro-consultancy Inform@ccion, who told Peruvian publication Agraria that the country’s grape exports to Russia had reached US$18m in value terms last year.

In this year alone, the analyst said the value of export sales to Russia had already exceeded US5.5m.

Cillóniz told the publication that the “giant” growth rate and “high ceiling” of the Russian market meant that Peru’s grape exports to the country were likely to increase by at least 20 per cent.

The growth in shipments to Russia is line with a major overall increase in Peruvian grape sales, with the Andean country’s exports of the product increasing by over 30 per cent in 2010 compared with the year before.

At the same time, Cillóniz said Peru’s grape sector was also working to develop the production area for grapes in keeping with demand, with an increase of around 30 per cent expected for the coming season.