Peru’s farm exports grew just 1.9% from January to August, sharply slower than growth of 21% over the same period in 2025 and 20% in 2024. ADEX, the exporters’ association, reported the figures as El Niño threatens crops in northern regions that supply fruit to overseas buyers. Growers face the weather risk; export figures measure what reaches the market.
Farm shipments totaled US$8.005 billion during the eight-month period, up from US$7.856 billion a year earlier. Farm exports accounted for about a tenth of Peru’s total exports. The country’s total exports rose 34.3% to US$74.1 billion, driven by mining, ADEX said on 6 October. One export engine is slowing, while mining’s figures point to the larger weight of extractive trade.
The market sets the terms
The United States is the largest buyer of Peruvian farm goods, including fruit, vegetables and coffee. Together, the United States, the Netherlands and Spain take 57% of Peru’s non-traditional farm exports. Earlier ADEX data showed U.S. buyers took US$1.4 billion of those goods from January to May, nearly twice the Dutch figure. That concentration puts export earnings in overseas markets’ hands, while producers in Peru contend with crop conditions they can’t control.
Agro-industrial goods, which Peru classifies as non-traditional exports, made up 90.3% of farm exports. They rose 1.8% to US$7.231 billion. Fruit sales reached US$4.561 billion: blueberry exports rose 47.9% in value, grapes 17.6% and avocados 8.3%. Peru is also a major off-season supplier of blueberries, grapes, avocados and asparagus to U.S. shoppers. The trade numbers climb. But ADEX warned El Niño could affect northern crops such as blueberries.
Weather hits the growers first
In San Martín, an Amazon region that grows about half of Peru’s cocoa, heavy rain and humidity from March to May damaged flowering and ripening. Cocoa volumes fell. Larger harvests in Ivory Coast and Ghana also pushed world cocoa prices lower, squeezing the crop from both the weather and market sides. Mangoes, fresh asparagus, citrus and cocoa powder also shipped in lower volumes.
José Antonio Mejía, who chairs ADEX’s coffee and cocoa committee, said this year’s harvest lacked its usual peak in June and July, with declines of 15% to 30%. He warned the trend could continue until the end of the year and called for a plant-health campaign and more resources for small producers. Coffee exports edged up 0.6% to US$701.7 million, helped by an early harvest that ADEX linked to El Niño.
Warnings, but no new forecast
ENFEN, Peru’s state committee monitoring El Niño, issues updates every two weeks. Its latest update came on 28 September. In May, ENFEN said coastal El Niño conditions could last until February 2027, Gestión reported. Northern farm regions, including Piura and La Libertad, grow much of the fruit Peru sells abroad.
ADEX hasn’t said how much El Niño contributed to the export slowdown; it attributed cocoa losses to heavy rain. It’s unclear how badly blueberry and grape harvests, which peak late in the year, will be affected. Peru’s government hasn’t published a new farm export forecast. The article reports no grassroots response, mutual-aid effort or electoral or legislative remedy; Mejía’s call for support is the stated proposal for small producers. ENFEN’s next communiqué was expected in mid-October, and ADEX’s next monthly report is expected to show whether September brought a recovery.