Peru: Fewer grapes, but a stable market

At the beginning of the Peruvian grape campaign, producers expected there would be a 10% volume grow…

At the beginning of the Peruvian grape campaign, producers expected there would be a 10% volume growth. Now that the country is in the middle of the campaign, when the harvest in the north is coming to an end and the harvest in the south is starting, producers from the areas of Piura confirm that there are fewer volumes and that they won't achieve the expected growth.

Carlos Zamorano, from the Peruvian association of Table Grape Producers (Provid), stated that "we haven't achieved the calculated growth so far. However, the campaign is just starting in southern Peru; so these results are not completely accurate. What we can confirm is that, due to this decrease in production, we have a stable market with prices that stand within the average."

The main reason for this slight decline in production is that many farmers decided to change their crops of the Red Globe variety for others varieties that will give them better returns. "The goal is not to saturate the market with Red Globe, so cultivating alternative varieties is very helpful. It's worth stressing that the crops are being mainly replaced with other varieties of grapes, so there hasn't been a decrease in the number of hectares cultivated," Zamorano said.

"Additionally, as Chile and other producers have fewer volumes, there isn't a global oversupply like in other campaigns, so we believe prices will remain stable," he stated.