The Peruvian foreign trade association ComexPerú, recently stated that they hope to strengthen produce exports to China, especially non-traditional categories. Official data show that in 2020, Peru exported products worth 11.134 billion U.S. dollars to China, showing a year-on-year decrease of 18%. However, ComexPerú pointed out that despite the decline, China is still Peru's main trading partner. An analysis of the export categories was conducted by the association, which shows that the export value of Peruvian produce to China was only at 1.318 billion U.S. dollars. Promoting the export of non-traditional produce would help improve agricultural exports to China. ComexPerú explained that when analyzing the exports of non-traditional produce after China and Peru signed a free trade agreement, significant changes could be seen. Data show that in late 2010, Peru’s non-traditional agricultural exports to China amounted to 33.5 million U.S. dollars, which increased to 197 million U.S. dollars in 2020. “This shows that the signing of the free trade agreement has brought positive results.”
Specifically, blueberries are the non-traditional produce with the highest export value to China last year of 71.7 million U.S. dollars, showing an increase of 1.8% year-on-year. This is followed by grapes ($37.5 million, -14.8%) and avocados ($26.2 million, +1.9%). ComexPerú also studied the export performance of local provinces last year. Seven provinces exported more than 10 million U.S. dollars of non-traditional produce, which are Piura (106 million U.S. dollars), Lima (94 million U.S. dollars), Ica (71.6 million U.S. dollars), La Libertad (49.2 million U.S. dollars), Arequipa (34.6 million U.S. dollars), Lambayeque (24 million U.S. dollars) and Callao (19.2 million U.S. dollars). ComexPerú concluded that although the Covid-19 pandemic has caused many problems, exports to China are still one of Peru’s main sources of income. "The signing of a free trade agreement with China has promoted trade exchanges between the two countries and improved our competitiveness,” the report said. At present, the two countries are negotiating an upgrade of the free trade agreement, which will improve bilateral trade terms and allow more categories of Peruvian products to be exported to the Chinese market.