Despite 2022 being a challenging year, with fertilisers, energy and logistics cost increases, combined with the modern scarcity of harvest labourers, Peru’s blueberry industry is still growing in exports to its main markets in North America, Europe and Asia. This is according to Enrique Harten, Commercial sales manager at blueberry growers Agualima in Peru. .JPG?preset=ContentFullSmall)
Enrique Harten, from Agualima in Peru offered tastings of their Super Jumbo 22+ blueberries in Madrid
“2022 will indeed turn into a difficult to forget year due to some facts mentioned before, but still we are betting on our ability compete with our well-recognized quality and continued investments, to help us overcome those headwinds for consistent deliveries, while offering value to all our customers, like with our organic supply. Internally we are doing our best to control costs and be as good as possible against budget by years end,” hopes Harten.
Looking back at their participation in Fruit Attraction 2022 held in Madrid recently, Harten says they received good interest from a range of countries: “We bring to Madrid three different blueberry sizes, premium which is 14+, Jumbo 18-22mm and Super Jumbo 22+. A lot of potential customers were interested and our actual customers are enjoying them because we can pack under their own XL brand or under our own brand.
"This special selection is dedicated to markets that appreciate and value differently the regular commercial sizes, mainly on airfreight supply. The fair is important to meet our actual customers and have a space in private to talk about our future supply. We met with some other interested parties in Eastern Europe, Israel, the UK, etc where we can complement the market we are attending today.
"For the rest of our fruits, such as avocados, we had important interest for the coming season too. Our key markets are Europe and the USA, because they are taking the bigger volume. This is also where we provide the most value and a consistent supply to retailers and of course with alternative niche gourmet markets like South East Asia”
As growers and exporters Agualima, located in the Viru region, La Libertad, Peru, continue to invest in new varieties on their 1 000 hectares.
“We do all crops within the same limits; blueberries, white asparagus, mandarins and avocados. In blueberries we expect 2023 to be bigger in volume because we will replace other crops, just in case. 10-15% of the new area and, on the other hand we expect that the change in varietal fruits we had in 2022 will come to its maturity in 2023, with 20% more yield than today.
"The new genetics are delivering not only quality but bigger yields like the Planasa breeding varieties. The blueberry varieties we offer are Ventura, Madeira, Malibu, Salvador, Matias, Biloxi, Terrapin, Arana, Rosita and Raymi. The latter four are Driscolls with very good quality. We have other genetics planted under investigation in our ‘variety garden’ and this is aligned with our development plan of improving genetics in the short term because we understood already that, a few years ago, the changes in demand and a tendency of the end- consumer to value fruit characteristics that only the new patented genetics can offer."
Harten says that, for them, the focus is on ensuring their produce reaches customers fresh no matter the market.
“Agualima has organic certifications and the blueberries have a pretty- looking bloom, they are crunchy with a nice calibre and great taste of fruit. Our slogan is 'we are a different company' because our vision is to be the leading agro-industrial company in the supply of the highest quality food standards, harvesting and processing premium quality in personalized responses to our customers' needs.
"We want to be seen as a quality rather than a quantitative farmer in the market because our competitive size permits us to treat our orchards with special and personal care and be appreciated by our customers for that. We have our own certified packing stations with individual competences for each crop and each of them are placed very close to the harvest area to ensure the fruit is processed within one hour after harvesting,” concludes Harten.
For more information:
Enrique Harten
Agualima
Tel:+507 66117494
E-mail: comercial@agualima.com
www.agualima.com