The European counter-season asparagus market, a battleground between the nearby sources such as Morocco and the American sources, seems finally to have swung in recent years in favour of Peru, with some top-up volumes from Mexico. However, this balance could be altered with new prospects on the North American market.
In the early 2000s, European imports of asparagus from third countries saw a considerable rise with the advent of Peru, which gradually overhauled the other suppliers. Due to its greater competitiveness, it gained the upper hand over the local Mediterranean sources, such as Morocco, despite the great hopes placed therein by certain operators, especially from Spain. The market now seems to have reached maturity. Community imports have plateaued out since 2010 at around a maximum of 38 000 t, with 88 % from Peru, 8 % from Mexico, 2 % from the United States and 1 % from Morocco. Certain sources managed to make a breakthrough until 2012, such as Mexico, whose imports are now stagnating at a little under 5 000 t. Yet it is Morocco most of all which has suffered from this situation. Its volumes have been slashed after a very steep decrease. From their high point in 2009 (2 800 t) they fell to 1 000 t in 2012, before tumbling to just 240 t in 2015. Tonnages are continuing to decline for Thailand (220 t in 2015 as opposed to 950 t in 2008). The United States is also struggling to hold up, with volumes down to 200 t in 2010, as opposed to more than 1 000 t before 2000, although they did register a better performance in 2015 (600 t).
This slowdown is also due to the fall in Peruvian surface areas (26 000 ha according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Agriculture, as opposed to 32 000 ha in 2012), with the conversion to other more lucrative crops such as the grape and blueberry. Nonetheless, the source remains by far the world’s number one asparagus exporter, ahead of Mexico. Thus export volumes reached 132 600 t in 2015, when the source was hindered by the poor climate conditions caused by the El Niño phenomenon. The dynamic is far from over, although the consumption of this vegetable is at a standstill. In particular, there has been new planting activity in recent years in the provinces of Ica, Ancash and Lambayeque. Competition may be a bit more intense with Mexico, whose shipments, after rising until 2014 (129 000 t exported), have also reached a standstill.
Once again this year we are expecting a potential at least similar to last year, especially as the climate conditions have been less unfavourable. However there are no predictions of real progress on the European market, but instead a trade-off favouring other markets. Since although some have switched to other crops in recent years, other still hope to be able to expand their exports, especially to the United States. This outlet represents the bulk of exported fresh volumes (70 %), bearing in mind that shipments were hitherto restricted by a highly costly fumigation treatment, imposed by the US sanitary authorities to combat Copitarsia corruda, which ate into producers’ revenue. The lifting of this measure by APHIS, starting from this campaign, could therefore change the hand. Furthermore, Peruvian exporters should continue their expansion in Asia, with in particular the opening up of the Chinese market. However, despite an agreement protocol signed since 2013, this market’s development is still dormant
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