After having grown at an 11% average annual rate in volume between 2015 and 2019, Peru's mandarin export volume increased by 36% in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. Due to the good results obtained, the sector expected mandarin exports would increase by 15% to 20% in 2021. However, with the return to normality, the demand stopped growing and the markets started demanding the quality levels they required before the pandemic. This, added to production problems caused by climate change in Peru, led the country to export a total of 213,785 tons for a value of 247 million dollars, which means exports increased by 2% in volume but fell by 5% in value. In 2022, the sector expects an unfavorable scenario for citrus exports due to various factors. On the one hand, the new Agrarian Promotion Law increased the production cost of formal companies by 30%, causing investments to plant new hectares of mandarins to be paralyzed; on the other hand, Peru faces difficulties to produce international quality citrus. In fact, currently, only 50% of its production manages to reach the size, color, and flavor required by international markets to be exported. In addition, climate change is affecting production, which has doubled the decline in mandarin losses.
Moreover, the shortage of containers in maritime trade has increased the cost of transport from 2,000 to 10,000 dollars per container. However, the hectares that in 2019 and 2020 were converted mainly to mandarin hybrid varieties that have better prices and are more popular on the international market will enter into production in 2022. Thus, the sector estimates the country will export 226,970 tons of mandarins for 255 million dollars this year, achieving a 6% increase in volume and a 3% increase in value over the previous year. In 2021, the main destinations for Peruvian mandarins were the United States and the United Kingdom, which accounted for 58% of exports.