Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Info provided by the
American Chamber of Commerce of Peru (AmCham Peru)

Similarly, the onion shipments sent to the United States grew in 73% since the year 2003 and they expanded in 18% in the last year. While Chile, in spite of not demanding such big volumes as the ones delivered to the U.S., turned out to be a very interesting market, that showed a remarkable annual rate growth of the Peruvian onion imports.

Facing the imminent entry in force of the Peru – U.S. TPA, products such as onions, will enter permanently in the United States completely tariff free so it is possible to foresee an even higher incentive of sales to this particular country. Even though the U.S. is a big producer of onions Peru faces huge opportunities in such market, first and foremost because our production can supply the U.S. demand during the winter months when there isn’t enough onions in the northern hemisphere. In the same manner, one can observe that Peru in the year 2007 was the third provider of onions to this market after Mexico and Canada, whom are responsible for the 61% and 14% respectively, of the total imports of such product.

As we have commented in many different occasions, in order for Peru to be able to increase its sales to the U.S. market, it is important to be in touch with the requirements imposed by the authorities. And in this case, even though this product can enter the country by any port, it requires an import license that must be requested by the importer himself. Similarly, it must be taken into consideration, that the USDA recommends the application of Good Agricultural Practices by the importers that will guarantee the product’s safety. On the other hand, the exporters must also bear in mind the federal laws imposed to them regarding pesticides, insecticides and fungicides limits that establish the tolerance of agrochemical residues that are incorporated in the products themselves. And in order to be able to have access to the market the onions must also meet the specifications of degree, size, and off course ripeness.

Therefore, dear reader, the onion case, is only one in the vast array of successful opportunities that can be taken advantage of in the United States. So to be able to expand such markets it is absolutely necessary that our industrial force knows what is expected of them and be in a capacity of exceeding those expectations, because it is of no use for us to have a preferential agreement with the U.S. and be exempted of taxes via liberating our products, if these will be retained in customs producing extensive losses to the exporters.



*Translated by Joceline Frank

Frankly Speaking Inc.