Argentina opens market to Peruvian Brazil nuts, Eureka lemons, alpaca fibre and poultry meal

Argentina has authorised the entry of four new categories of Peruvian agricultural products, following negotiations led by Peru's National Agrarian Health Service (Senasa), the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (Midagri) said. The decision was reported by the Peruvian business daily Gestión.

The newly cleared items are the Eureka lemon, Brazil nuts, alpaca and vicuña fibre, and poultry meal together with its by-products. Midagri put the size of the destination market at around 46 million potential consumers. The announcement covers sanitary and phytosanitary clearance; the ministry did not publish volume projections or a date for the first shipments.

Brazil nuts identified as the main beneficiary

“We are talking about a major opportunity for the small producers involved in this type of product and these chains, the possibility of continuing to sell, of continuing to improve their incomes,” said Midagri head Marco Vinelli at a press conference.

Of the four lines, Vinelli singled out Brazil nuts as the product that could benefit most. Midagri figures cited by Gestión put the chain at more than 15,000 people in the Madre de Dios region alone. That dispersed base of small operators is what makes an additional export destination relevant to household income rather than to national trade aggregates.

The lemon component is smaller in area. Midagri said Peru has more than 440 hectares of Citrus limon planted for export, concentrated on the northern coast. Alpaca and vicuña fibre sits at the other end of the scale — minimal tonnage, high unit value. Poultry meal and its by-products are a processing and feed input rather than a food product, and access for that line depends on the animal health status of Peru's poultry flock.

Pitahaya and tulips in the pipeline

The four approvals are not the end of the list. Sources at Midagri cited by Gestión said work is under way on new phytosanitary access for pitahaya and tulips, alongside other agricultural products. No timetable for those dossiers was given.

Argentine products move the other way

The process is reciprocal. According to Midagri, the products under consideration for entry into the Peruvian market include fresh cherries, bovine meal, sheep wool and goat fibre. The package also covers fumigation of grain in transit — a service rather than a commodity, and one that concerns Argentine grain exporters routing cargo through Peruvian territory.

Peru confirmed free of highly pathogenic avian influenza

At the same press conference, Vinelli said the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, OMSA in Spanish) has ratified Peru as free of highly pathogenic avian influenza in poultry across the whole of the national territory.

“This is important because close to 25% of Peru's agricultural production comes from the sector, and the country produces close to 2 million tonnes of poultry meat, of which some 1.8 million belongs to chicken meat,” Vinelli said. He added that the status allows small farmers to work normally without losing income to culling, and provides assurance on the condition of the food reaching the population.

For the poultry meal line opened in Argentina, that status is the operative condition: rendered poultry products are typically among the first items restricted when an exporting country loses its disease-free standing.