Lima – Peru has been demonstrating its firm intention to establish itself as a preferential partner in Asia for over a decade. The signing of new protocols and agreements, the work of Peru’s trade offices in Asian markets, and the country’s permanent presence at trade fairs and sector events are bearing fruit. Asia is now the third biggest market for Peruvian agrifood exports.
“Asian countries as a whole are an extremely important destination market for Peruvian foods, which is why we are redoubling our promotional efforts towards both the retail sector and end consumers to generate and increase demand for our products. Meanwhile, from a State perspective we continue to work hand-in-hand with other institutions on the protocols and permits necessary to permit the entry of new fresh produce to the Asian market,” noted Mario Ocharán, Export Director at PROMPERÚ.
To give Asian consumers a much closer insight into what Peru has to offer, several well-known influencers from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand recently prepared a number of dishes live using the most representative ingredients from Peruvian cuisine as a common denominator. This action, which was posted on the social media profiles of various regional influencers, hopes to achieve thousands of impacts and showcase Peruvian foodstuffs to a younger audience.
In Thailand, the campaign is complemented by the promotion of cranberries, chia, quinoa and table grapes on the e-commerce portal www.freshliving.co.th, as well as through tasting sessions in the supermarket chains of Foodland, Tops, The Mall and Max Value. Meanwhile, over in Singapore, Peru has recently launched its ‘Power Up with Super Foods Peru’ campaign in a number of supermarkets, and will shortly start promoting pisco through a campaign entitled ‘Pisco Nights’.
In the midst of all this promotional campaign, Peru also took part in the biggest fresh food trade fair in Asia: Asia Fruit Logistica, held this year online. And it did so in the best possible way, repeating its status as Guest Country of Honor for the second year running and sponsoring the Asiafruit Congress, held on the day before the fair. This renowned virtual fair kept a special place for a show-cooking session by chef Coco Tomita and bartender Aaron Díaz, the creator of the Carnaval bar that recently came twenty-first on the list of “50 Best Bars”. Both Tomita and Díaz, each in their respective fields, highlighted the culinary use of superfoods from Peru such as asparagus, camu camu and cranberries.
Agrícola Chapi, Agualima, Asglobalfresh, POMICA and Vison’s Peru were the Peruvian companies that took part this year in the Asia Fruit Logistica ON online event under the umbrella of PROMPERÚ. All of them are well-versed in Asian markets as they already export a large proportion of their output to China, Japan, South Korean, Singapore and Taiwan, markets in which they hope to continue increasing their share, as well as targeting other countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. “This has been our first time at Asia Fruit Logistica, and we’re very happy with our participation. As a company, we have achieved one the targets we set ourselves this year, which was to penetrate the Asian market, as it represents a great business opportunity due to the tremendous growth potential in the demand for fresh fruit of Peruvian origin, most notably citrus fruits, avocados and grapes. It is worth highlighting that the commercial impact of Peru is particularly positive in China, India and Japan. These markets demand high quality citrus fruits, avocados and grapes at competitive prices,” explained Vanesa Benavides, the Asglobalfresh representative.
