In the first five months of 2018, the country exported 4,230 tonnes of frozen asparagus, 22% more than in the same period in 2017 when exported volumes totalled 3,307 tonnes.
Export values rose by 25% from USD14.75 million to USD18.5 mln. The main destination was the US market, where USD6.9 mln worth of frozen asparagus was delivered. The US was followed by Japan (USD6.35 mln), Spain (USD2.84 mln), Italy (USD656,000), Belgium (USD582,000) and Germany (USD 256,000).
In volume terms, the largest amount of frozen asparagus was shipped in the month of March and April (1,089 tonnes and 1,010 tonnes respectively), while for the rest of the period exports were below 1,000 tonnes.
The main exporters of frozen asparagus were Beta Agroindustrial Complex, responsible for 47% of the total shipments; IQF del Perú SA (39%); Agroindustrias AIB SA and Virú SA with 4% each; Fundo San Fernando SA (3%), Agroindustria San Antonio SRL (1%) and others with smaller amounts that together represented 3%. Fundo San Fernando SA（3%）,Exports of canned asparagus were fairly stable (+1%) with 9,568 tonnes traded against 8,225 tonnes of the year before.
In this case, the largest market was Spain absorbing USD11.8 mln worth of canned asparagus, followed by France (USD7.5 mln), the US (USD5.22 mln) and Germany (USD3.52 mln). In the analysed period, shipments of fresh declined by 36% year-on-year with the average monthly volume dropping from 9,154 tonnes in 2017 to 5,862 tonnes in 2018.
The US was the main destination market,followed by the UK, the Netherlands and Spain.Some reports suggest that this decline could be linked to a contraction in output as growers invested in more profitable crops like blueberry and avocado.
Foodnews information: the Chinese food and land trade association Translation: Ren Huizhi
