Fuente:  Equipo de Selva Industrial S.A.

 CITRUS IN PERU

Citrus fruits have gained greater recognition in Peru’s agricultural supply due to the growth of its production, local demand and exports in recent years. According to the Agrarian News Agency of Peru, citrus production grew by 83% between 2009 and 2020. This growth has been possible thanks to the large production areas destined for citrus; currently there are 74,776 hectares distributed between the coast and the Peruvian amazon.

According to data from MIDAGRI (Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation), the leading citrus products for Peru exports are orange and mandarin orange, which have a 38% and 36% share, respectively, of total exports; they are followed by lemon with 20% participation and grapefruit with 6% participation. It is important to emphasize that although the first exportable citrus is the orange, the mandarin orange has become the fruit with the highest growth in production areas, this in consequence of its great demand in international markets.

THE PERUVIAN ORANGE

The orange, the main citrus of Peru, is produced mostly in the regions of Junín and San Martín (68% of the total production), and to a lesser extent in the areas of Lima and Cusco (32% of the total production). Among the orange varieties produced by Peru, the main one is called Valencia, followed by other varieties on a smaller scale such as those called Washington Navel, New Hall, Navel Late and Lane Late. In figures, the country produces around 558,695 MT of oranges, which corresponds to 28,339 ha; of this total, the Valencia orange represents 301,694 MT which corresponds to 15,303 ha.

The main production area of the Valencia variety is the Junín region (Chanchamayo and Satipo). The harvest in these areas is almost all year round; however, its harvest peak with highest production is between June and October of each year. In this window the volumes and prices are usually competitive for the foreign market, since it represents the 65% of the total supply of the year, as well as the organoleptic characteristics are ideal in brix and acidity.

Regarding the local market, the Valencia variety is highly appreciated for its sweet / acid flavor that characterizes this variety. For this reason, the domestic market plays an important role in the demand for this product as it leads consumption with an 86% share, mainly in the fresh fruit format. Likewise, per capita orange consumption in Peru is also on the rise since in 2009 it was estimated at 6.40 kg per year / inhabitant (INEI) to now reach 12.4 kg / year by 2020. This growth was caused last year by the presence of COVID – 19, pandemic also caused that prices have reflected an increase of 9% between 2019 and 2020.

Regarding the foreign market, the balance of production that remains in the country (14%) is mainly destined to two industries: the juice industry from foreign countries that mainly import fresh oranges for production out from Peru and the concentrate industry that exports the product already processed in juice; in this last one, Selva Industrial leads exports. It is important to highlight that the foreign market, same than domestic market, in the last year has shown a tendency to increase the consumption of vitamin C, mainly motivated by the pandemic.

CROP SEASON 2021

For 2021, the demand conditions are favorable since there is a growing local market and an increasing demand from the foreign market. Regarding production, no significant growth in hectares is projected versus the previous year, which generates an almost flat trend in production. The crossing of these variables could maintain the trend of the price increase for this season, which began in 2020 due to COVID – 19.

Regarding the evolution of the crop season, in June 2021 the harvest peak began, however, it was affected by a late physiological ripeness, which caused that brix and acidity did not resulted as those to which it is accustomed the concentrate industry. The root of the ripeness problem is due to the climatic changes of this last year in the production areas, which has caused unfavorable situations for the harvest, since there was intense cold in times of maturity of the fruit and rains out of season. All this, added to last year’s drought, caused the orange plants to emit flowers late in an uneven way and the fruit to turn out green and with a high amount of acidity. It is important to emphasize that green fruit is accepted in the local market without issues, situation that do not happen in foreign market. This caused a disadvantage in the supply of oranges for the export industry compared to the local market, since farmers preferred to harvest oranges green even ahead of time due to the good prices offered by the domestic market.

Production is projected to return with normality from July 15 this year until the end of Septemberfirst half of October. Likewise, it is also projected that prices of the product will be higher because of the late ripening that caused an unsatisfied demand, which is waiting for the normal volume of production.

OUR OFFER 2021

Selva Industrial has a fruit processing plant in the La Merced – Chanchamayo area, where orange is the main commercial product. Our factory began to process orange concentrate from the beginning of June with quite a few supply complications due to the late ripening problems that have occurred in this harvest. However, we have recently managed to recover the supply thanks to the work of our agronomist team with the suppliers through technical support and constant monitoring of the production fields in situ.

Thanks to technical support, we have managed to direct our supply in quality and volume with the characteristics sought by the foreign market; therefore, we will be happy to attend to your orders for this crop season.