Peruvian coffee exports exceeded $1
billion in 2012.
Worldwide
it is the country with the largest area set aside specifically for gourmet
coffee production.
By Emily Culver
July 7, 2013
The
United States is one of the top consumers of coffee around the world and Peru
is set to become an important provider of gourmet coffee products. Coffee
export companies are set to become the preferred provider for some of the
largest coffee chains in the U.S. according to the Trade Office of Peru.
Coffee
exports from Peru reached $1 billion last year and the number one destination
for these products was the United States which imported $242 million worth of
unroasted coffee beans from this Andean country.
Peru
is only the third largest grower of coffee in Latin America. However, worldwide
it is the country with the largest area set aside specifically for gourmet
coffee production. Out of 400,000 hectares used for growing coffee, 85,000 are
used only for producing premium, organic certified, products.
Because
of the international attention, Peru will be the portrait country of next
year’s Specialty Coffee Association of America’s annual fair. The event is
visited by traders and buyers of the larger coffee houses.
These
coffee buyers, according to Andina, promote Peruvian gourmet coffee as a way to
differentiate themselves from other companies. Also they have been focusing on
sustainability, as well as Peru’s organic certification of its coffee, in order
to fulfill corporate social responsibility.