Peru FoodNews 2010 - GBR

12
A Global Business Reports publication
A Global Business Reports publication
13
One of Agronegocios Génesis’ nurseries in Peru. The production of
grape is booming in the country.
entrepreneurs from various industries with
a different way of thinking. Smaller players
are afraid of sharing their company, but we
are prepared for partnerships. It is not our
farm; it is a business. If we did not partner,
it would take us two years to get to know
this industry”.
Telling the world
about Peru
Working together is indeed something quite
new in the Peruvian agro industry. Unlike
Chile, until very recently the country had
not really managed to harness the sector to
aim at a common goal: to promote Peru as a
world-class food exporter.
PRODUCT
COFFEE
ASPARAGUS
GRAPE
PAPRIKA
MANGO
ARTICHOKE
CAPSICUM (EXCL. PAPRIKA)
COCOA AND DERIVATIVES
AVOCADO
Now the situation
is changing for
the better, with
an increasing
role played by
associations and
a more active
participation of the
industry leaders in marketing initiatives.
“At a company level, we need to work
together and be aware of the importance of
being united. We regularly meet to discuss
certain issues, but we are reluctant to act
as a country rather than as a company.
Luckily, the new generations have a
different mentality”, reckons Zavaleta of
Agroindustrias Josymar.
For Guillermo León, General Manager
of Ecoacuícola, a peppers, grapes and
shrimps producer in the north of Peru: “The
country is a bit behind in marketing its
own industry. The situation is improving
as the government increasingly facilitates
the participation of companies in trade
fairs, but a lot still needs to be done”.
TOP AGRO EXPORTS 2009
ANIMAL NUTRITION PRODUCTS
Source: ADEX
FOB VALUE (USD)
584 million
389 million
136 million
103 million
96 million
86 million
81 million
70 million
64 million
63 million
For his part, Alfonso Velásquez of
Procesadora believes that: “A strong,
dedicated and coordinated effort between
private and public institutions must be
made to open different markets for every
product that our country is developing”.
Indeed Peru needs to tell the world
about its realised and future potential in
the food sector. The Expoalimentaria fair,
a great success in 2009, and expected to be
even bigger in 2010, can play an important
role.
Companies will need to continue the
remarkable modernisation process of the
last years and the country will have to
invest heavily on infrastructure to support
the growth of the different industries and
avoid bottlenecks.
If these conditions are met, Peru will
be able to become what Miguel Nicolini,
General Manager of Agrícola Virú, calls
“the new Mediterranean in terms of food
supply”. Following the development of
the Peruvian industry over the next few
years will be exciting.
A SEA OF
OPPORTUNITIES
Peru’s fisheries industry is changing.
It continues to be world’s largest
producer of fishmeal, but it is
increasingly using its rich marine
resources for direct human
consumption products.
While Peru offers exceptional conditions
for the development of agriculture, it also
has one of the world’s richest seas. The
country’s fishing industry yields significant
export sales figures, mostly from fishmeal
and fish oils (USD 1.41 billion and USD
257 million in 2009 respectively), but also
from frozen fish (USD 398 million) and to
a lesser degree, conserves (USD 69 million)
(SNP data). In terms of catch, fishing boats
captured 5.9 million tonnes of anchovy last
year, most of which was absorbed by the
fishmeal and fish oils industry, while of the
species dedicated for human consumption,
the most important ones by volumes were:
giant squid (405 000 tonnes), chub mackerel
(105 000 tonnes), horse mackerel (76 000
tonnes), mahi mahi (50 000 tonnes) and
hake (36 000 tonnes).
2009 saw a contraction of exports in most
of the products due to the global financial
crisis, and the first months of 2010 have
been challenging in terms of catch due to the
Kelvin waves that have brought variations
in the species available, reminiscent of
the 1997-98 El Niño phenomenon. Those
processors that have invested in large
freezing and canning plants over the last
years have had to think out of the box.
Humberto Speziani, Advisor to the Board
at Tecnológica de Alimentos (TASA),
explains: “We have a state of the art plant
to freeze fish, which is one of the largest
in the continent with a production capacity
of 500 tonnes per day and frozen storage
facilities for up to 15 000 tonnes of fish.
The operation is catching up slowly this
year due to the scarcity of horse mackerel
and chub mackerel. We have even had to
import fish from Chile and the High Seas”.
It seems that the scarcity of resource
this year is not a phenomenon unique
to Peru. Giving his impressions on this
year’s European Seafood Exposition in
Brussels, the General Manager of Iny, Elie
Barsimantov, comments: “Catch has been
bad this year all around the world, and the
markets are buying any product that may be
offered”. For his part, Carlos Milanovitch,
Managing Director of Dexim, a company
producing frozen hydrobiologicals affirms:
“Currently the international demand for
hydrobiological products is so high that as
producers we do not really compete with
each other”.
Fishmeal vs. direct
human consumption
Considering the high demand for
hydrobiologicals around the world on one
side and the extremely profitable prices
of fishmeal on the other, which direction
should the industry take? Even the largest
fishmeal producers agree that more products
for direct human consumption is the answer
and are dedicating more fish oils to this
market. “Part of our oil production rich in
Omega3-EPA-DHA and other fatty acids is
now for direct human consumption. It is a
product that offers great opportunities for
the future”, maintains Speziani of TASA.
By law, nowadays only anchovy can be
used for the production of fishmeal (in the
case of other species, only the waste can be
used). Anchovy, traditionally disliked in
Peru and associated to a not very attractive
(and very stinky) industry in some Peruvian
coastal localities, is not seen as a delicacy
as in some European countries, but at least
people are starting to eat it – and like it.