Power Up With Peruvian Foods

Erick Aponte, Trade Commissioner for PROMPERÚ in South- East Asia shares his vision for empowering Asia’s health-conscious agenda with Peru’s native produce.

- Esther Faith Lew

The numbers paint a picture of great diversity. Peru has about 5,000 varieties of potatoes; many are native to the Andes Mountains. It is also a natural pantry of superfoods such as maca, quinoa, kiwicha, camucamu, lucuma and the ever-in-demand cacao, which grows in10 regions in Peru. The abundance of crops native to Peru are astounding, especially when one takes into consideration the vast terroir of the region, with eight ecosystems in the Andes, not forgetting the biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest.

For Erick Aponte, Trade Commissioner for PROMPERÚ inSouth- East Asia, it has been his mission to introduce the diversity of agricultural produce to Asia, and he has identified fast-growing trends that have paved the way for Peruvian products. “One of the most important is the worldwide trend towards healthier, thoughtful eating, which has continued to grow over the years. Our production grew right along with this trend as we specialise in superfoods and organic products, with fresh products such as avocados, table grapes and blueberries being our highest demand items, with citrus and mangoes showing great demand increases as well.

As part of the Free Trade Agreement between the governments of Singapore and Peru, Singapore has authorised the import of new fresh produce, and during the first half of 2020, fresh cranberries, pomegranates and asparagus were the leading Peruvian imports. Other popular produce were quinoa, chia seeds, chestnuts, artichokes and jalapeño peppers.

Meeting demand for health-conscious products