Uncertainty lingers for Peruvian fruit exporters as the industry faces complications from the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, reports the country's exporter's association ADEX.

In a release on Thursday, president of ADEX Erik Fischer said that "the impact is being shown even more clearly in figures we have for March and April". China is Peru's number one destination for fruit exports, which explains the big shift in numbers even in projections for upcoming months.

As reported by FreshFruitPortal.com last week, Peru's neighbor Chile is also experiencing turbulence in its exports to China amid the ripple effects of the health crisis.

In 2019, China made up the highest percentage of market share for Peruvian minerals, fish and timber and for the agriculture industry, the Asian country occupies the seventh largest destination for Peru.

The association's research division said that China is consuming significantly less Peruvian goods. Economists have been analyzing the situation in the Asian country to see what the long and short term impacts of the virus are on the global market.

Fischer said that precautions and preventative measures across the world could have a big impact on trading conditions all the way throughout March. He added that flights being detained and stopped, the suspension of sea-freight ships and the creation of long negotiations among trading partners will affect the supply chain and many companies that have a stake in selling their goods to the country.

"It's reach will surely extend throughout time and space- reaching different regions of the world in the sort of implications that it has. In this way, the economic impact of the situation will be bigger than a simple fall and rise of precious metal prices," he explained.

Implications, current and future on Peruvian exports

The complexity of coronavirus' economic repercussions is still yet to be understood completely, but it's far-reaching nature cannot be denied.

ADEX's report, for instance, also informs the industry that companies that trade with China will undoubtedly be negatively impacted by the situation. For Peru, that means that if an agricultural company that, for example, ships grapes and mangoes to China, its shipments will be redirected to European markets if they're lucky.

In some cases, orders are being cancelled entirely. Fischer reminded us that exporters in the Latin American country are working hard with producers to have their fruit successfully enter the Chinese market.

"Eight companies that comprise ADEX have participated in promotions for the Chinese New Year in China's International Import Expo 2019. This created an estimated US$2 million this year for a variety of products like dried mangoes, blueberries and chocolate," he said.

Finally, ADEX added that imports into China last January reached US$949 million, a 5% increase from Dec. of the previous year.