Peruvian grapes exportable to Japanese market starting today

10:00 | Lima, Mar. 22.

A new market for Peruvian grapes is open now.

After a joint effort by the Foreign Trade and Tourism Ministry (Mincetur) —through Peru's Exports and Tourism Promotion Board (Promperu) and Trade Office in Japan (OCEX Tokyo)— and the Agrarian Development and Irrigation Ministry (Midagri) —through the National Agricultural Health Service (Senasa)— authorization was received for Peruvian table grapes to enter Japan starting today.

The measure became official through the publication of the law that allows the access of Peruvian grapes to the Japanese market —issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan via the Asian country's official gazette.

Therefore, Peru will be allowed to export a total of 26 grape varieties to a market of 125 million potential consumers.

At a technical level, this negotiation work was managed by Peru's Senasa and Trade Office in Tokyo.

A 13-stage procedure was followed, including technical proposals, studies, visits to Peru, among others —being the last one a public consultation, on which no observations were made.

It should be noted that grapes are one of the main export fruits from Peru.

Only in 2022, said shipments amounted to US$1.362 billion, which represented a growth of 8.9% over the previous year, considering that this product reached 53 markets.

The main grape exporting regions are Ica, Piura, Lambayeque, and La Libertad.

According to information from Mincetur, the exports potential of fresh grapes to Japan amounts to US$17 million.

Through OCEX Tokyo, a total of 13 business meetings have been held between Japanese importers and Peruvian exporters to make the most of the opening of said Asian market.

According to Midagri, Peru is one of the world's leading producers and exporters of grapes, as well as of other fruit varieties.

It is important to mention that fresh Peruvian grapes enjoy duty-free access to Japan under the Japan-Peru Economic Partnership Agreement (on a seasonal basis) and under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).