As Peruvian asparagus growers move into their peak season, members of the Peruvian Asparagus Importer's Association are set to deliver top-quality product to their customers. “We are already ahead of the projected volumes for 2015,” said Coordinator Priscilla Lleras-Bush. “We expect to continue to be steady throughout the peak season with abundant supply to retailers and foodservice.”

Peru enjoys a marketplace advantage of being able to produce asparagus throughout the year owing to its favorable climate. Production areas are situated both in the north and south of Peru, allowing for a marketplace timing that infuses the American pipeline with asparagus after domestic production has finished.

“Peruvian asparagus complements the U.S. growing regions and allows retailers to shelve asparagus year-round,” Lleras-Bush said. “Quality Peruvian fresh asparagus is our standard. Exporters and importers strive to exceed their customers’ expectations with the quality asparagus from Peru. We hold to a very precise cold chain management program along the logistics chain that ensures the freshest quality of asparagus.”

Consumption of fresh asparagus continues to grow in the United States. Lleras-Bush was asked what factors are fueling this interest. “We believe that, with the amount of television marketing for cooking at home, these types of shows inspire home chefs to create their dishes at home and even motivate home chefs to create their own recipes to match their families' flavor palettes,” she replied. “For example, many consumers are looking for healthy and easy-to-prepare vegetables for their families, and there are numerous recipes for Peruvian asparagus that are easy to prepare and provide families with creative, delicious and beneficially nutritious meals.”

She said the fact that consumers have increasing opportunities to use technology to obtain detailed information quickly has been a benefit to the industry. “The natural movement/trend for asparagus will be to increase in consumption due to the healthy, nutritious and flavorsome characteristics of Peruvian asparagus,” she observed.

Statistics from Agrodata show that Peru exported a total of 99.9 million kilograms of fresh asparagus in 2014, which represented an increase of 6.84 percent over export volume in 2013. The United States was the chief destination for fresh Peruvian asparagus at 60 percent of total volume. The value of the 2014 asparagus exported to the United States was $176 million.