The Peruvian mango industry is hopeful it will soon be able to export fresh fruit to South Korea, following a successful visit of a delegation from the Asian country earlier this week. 

The Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture (Minagri) recently received officials from South Korea's Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency (QIA) who saw the country's mango farms first hand.

Peruvian Mango Exporters' Association (APEM) general manager Juan Carlos Rivera told www.freshfruitportal.com he was confident the visit had gone well.

"The inspectors left on Monday. They came, they visited farms, they did some tests to assess the phytosanitary safeguard procedures, and they also looked at the packing plants. They visited the fields and collected lots of information, but we still don't have an answer yet," he said.

"We are confident that everything went well and we are now awaiting the response from the South Korean Ministry of Agriculture."

The Korean delegation was accompanied by officials from Peruvian National Agricultural Health Service (Senasa), and also carried out inspections of treatment plants, in order to establish phytosanitary export protocols.

Should Peru gain market access, the first regions that will export their fruit will be Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad, Cajamarca and Anchash.

Although there has been no answer yet, the industry is hopefully they will hear back before the start of the next campaign that begins in November, Rivera said.

In terms of production estimates for the next season, the APEM general manager said the sector would have to wait to see what happens during the upcoming winter.

"We will know what the next campaign will bring around July or August. At that time we will know how the flowering process is going, but until then we have no idea," Rivera said.

He added that APEM had studied the South Korean market in order to gain an idea about consumers' preferences.

"We know that the market is relatively similar to Japan, where high fruit quality standards are demanded. So we are going to supply the Kent mango variety," Rivera said.

"The main problem about going to Asia is the logistical issue. China, Japan, Korea etcetera, and until we have some easing of the logistical matters it is going to be an exclusive product. So volumes won't be big, but both the fruit quality and the prices it fetches will be good.

"There are good expectations. For now, we just need to wait for the answer from the Korean delegation."

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