Peruvian table grape exports to fall by 12% in 2023-24

In the 2023-2024 season, Peru exported 62,745,726 boxes of table grapes (8.2 kg each), a decrease of 12 percent compared to the 71,404,349 boxes of the previous season (2022-2023) and 3.5 percent less than the quantity delivered in the 2021-2022 season, which reached 64,948,093 boxes, according to Agraria, citing information from the Association of Table Grape Producers of Peru (Provid).

In the Northern Region (Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad and Áncash), 25,262,464 boxes of table grapes were shipped in the 2023-2024 season, a 30 percent decrease from the 36 million boxes shipped in the 2022-2023 season. Piura exported 20,142,621 boxes, Lambayeque 2,680,927 boxes, La Libertad 2,265,787 boxes and Áncash 173,129 boxes.

In the case of the southern region (Lima, Ica, Arequipa and Moquegua), 37,483,363 boxes were shipped in the 2023-2024 season, an increase of 6 percent over the 35.3 million boxes exported in the 2022-2023 season.

The Ica region recorded the largest increase with 35,052,549 cases. Added to this were production from Arequipa (1,986,048 cases), Lima (442,486 cases) and Moquegua (2,280 cases).

Provid stressed that the opening of the port of Paracas (Ica) was an important factor in increasing table grape deliveries in the south of the country.

“The port infrastructure has been improved for the table grape campaign and special services have been set up for the large export volumes from the southern zone, especially to Europe,” said Provid.

In terms of markets, the United States remained the main destination for table grapes from Peru in the 2023-2024 season, as 46 percent of the exported volume of table grapes went there, totaling 29,035,876 boxes. The Netherlands ranks second with 7,468,238 boxes, representing 12 percent of the total.

The surprise came from Mexico, which was named as the third destination for Peruvian grapes, pushing China into fourth place. 5,388,812 boxes were exported to Mexico (9 percent of the total) and 4,817,096 boxes (8 percent) were exported to China.

Provid pointed out that this is the first time in the history of Peruvian table grape exports that Mexico imports more Peruvian grapes than China.

“This is not because Mexico has increased consumption of our grapes, but because shipments to China and other countries have decreased. In addition, the same 5.3 million boxes were exported to Mexico in the previous season,” they explained.

74 percent of Peru’s shipment was sent to the four countries mentioned. The remaining 26 percent (16,035,803 boxes) were distributed to other destinations. It is worth noting that Peru exports grapes to 55 international markets.

In terms of variety group, 55 percent of the grapes exported were white seedless grapes (34,468,725 boxes, a decrease of 2 percent), 24 percent were red seedless grapes (14,827,380 boxes, a decrease of 22 percent), 17 percent were red Globe grapes (10,596,805 boxes, a decrease of 25 percent) and 4 percent were black seedless grapes (2,805,831 boxes, a decrease of 8 percent).

According to the National Agricultural Health Service (Senasa), despite the weather problems, there was a slight increase in the area planted with table grapes in the 2023/2024 season. They reached 22,343 hectares, 0.8 percent more than the 22,164 hectares in the 2022/2023 season. In the 2021/2022 season, 21,100 hectares were planted with table grapes.

Looking at the variety groups, the largest area is White Seedless with 54 percent of the total area, i.e. 12,065 hectares (+9 percent). This is followed by Red Seedless with 25 percent of the total area (-6 percent), Red Globe with 16 percent (-13 percent) and Black Seedless with 5 percent of the total area (+2 percent).

In terms of variety diversity, the top 5 by area are Sweet Globe with 22 percent area (+2 percent), Red Globe with 16 percent (-13 percent), Autumn Crisp with 14 percent (+47 percent), Sheegene 20 or Allison with 7 percent (+4 percent) and Sweet Celebration with 5 percent (-2 percent).