Peruvian fruit company Agroworld is bullish on the international frozen produce market and expects strawberry exports could double in 2012 if the weather is positive.

Agroworld export manager Yuliana León tells www.freshfruitportal.com the company has grown since 2008 on the back of high quality and meeting the strict requirements of export markets.

"We could project that exports will continue growing generally. We shipped 150 containers of frozen strawberries this last season and it's possible that could double for the next," she says.

"But it all depends on the weather and plant physiology - there hasn't been much rain and the brix level has been excellent so you have good sugar content in the fruit."

She says Peru's strawberry season started in September and has just finished up following a year of export growth, despite the challenges of the U.S. market towards the end of the year with a higher Florida supply.

"At that point we couldn't compete with them because they had a much higher quantity of strawberries compared to us," says León.

"But for the year in 2011 the main market was the U.S., followed by Europe, Canada and Asia."

Peruvian customs figures show the country's strawberry exports grew 119% year-on-year to US$12 million between January and November in 2011.

www.freshfruitportal.com