Peru exported 505,377 tonnes of Hass avocados in the first half of 2026, a 6% increase on the same period last year. The figure keeps the country in second place globally behind Mexico among avocado exporters. It builds on a full 2025 campaign that reached 771,201 tonnes, according to industry data reported by trade publication FreshFruitPortal.
Export revenue reached $1.128 billion through July, up 7.6% on the previous year, according to separate figures reported by FreshPlaza. That makes avocados Peru’s single largest non-traditional agricultural export category. The Netherlands, Spain, the United States and Chile remain the country’s top destination markets, together absorbing the bulk of Peru’s shipments.
Chasing new markets in Asia
Peru’s growers association and the country’s agricultural health agency, SENASA, have spent the past six years opening new markets beyond that traditional base. They have secured access to South Korea, Thailand, Colombia, Mexico, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnam, Taiwan, New Zealand and Australia are next in line, with SENASA actively pursuing regulatory approval in each. Every new market requires its own bilateral negotiation over pest and disease protocols, a process that can take years even once both governments agree in principle that trade should open.
“The incorporation of small producers into international trade strengthens the rural economy and demonstrates the positive impact of joint work between the state and farmers,” said Vilma Gutarra, head of SENASA. Her comment framed the export growth as a smallholder story rather than a purely corporate one. Peru’s avocado sector now spans 205,000 planted acres and has secured market access to 70 countries in total, a reach few other Latin American fruit exports can currently match.
Much of Peru’s avocado production runs through cooperative structures that let smaller growers pool harvests. Those structures help growers meet the volume and consistency requirements large international buyers demand, and share the cost of certification processes that an individual smallholder could rarely afford alone. That arrangement has allowed Peru to combine rapid export growth with a supply base that still includes a meaningful share of small and mid-sized farms, rather than consolidating entirely around a handful of large commercial operations.
A Latin American export sector under El Nino watch
Peru’s export growth this year is unfolding against the backdrop of a forecast strong El Nino event that has already prompted pre-emptive policy responses elsewhere in Latin America. Colombia’s government has moved to freeze agricultural credit for its own export sectors, betting that early relief will cushion producers before drought conditions take hold. That stands in contrast with Peru’s current position of expanding rather than bracing for impact.
Whether Peru’s avocado sector proves similarly exposed to the coming El Nino, or continues its run of market expansion largely undisturbed, will depend on how the weather pattern actually plays out over the coming months. Avocado trees are less immediately vulnerable to a single dry season than annual row crops, since established orchards can draw on deeper root systems. Prolonged drought would still eventually affect yields on newer plantings in particular, once soil moisture reserves are exhausted.
For now, SENASA’s push into new Asian markets suggests an industry positioning for further growth rather than one preparing for a weather-driven setback, even as neighbouring exporters take a more defensive posture. That divergence between Peru’s export strategy and Colombia’s credit relief measures reflects how unevenly a single regional weather forecast can shape policy. It depends heavily on which crops, growing regions and financing structures each country’s farm sector actually relies on.
