Wheat imports exceeded US$ 573 million due to global rise

In 2021, Peru imported a total of 1,856,087,714 kilos of wheat for a CIF value of US$573,053,427, 9.79% more than the US$516,951,798 (2,111,990,148 kilos) in 2020; according to figures from Agrodata Peru. Although the imported volume is lower than in 2020, in value it is higher due to the high international price of the cereal, which reaches US$390, and the import costs. Alicorp concentrated 35% with acquisitions for US$ 200 million 779,135.

Thus, at the local level, 90% of the wheat consumed in the country is imported, said Eduardo Zegarra, principal investigator of the Development Analysis Group (Grade), This is due to the fact that “national production has been discouraged by the authorities”, added to this is that the cereal “is free of tariffs and is not within the price range”.

According to Midagri, there are three lines of cereal imports: durum wheat, wheat flour; inputs that once processed and transformed are used for the production of bread and noodles, mainly.

Regarding the figures mentioned above, Zegarra He highlighted that the reduction in the quantity demanded in kilos is due to the higher price of the commodity in the global market. “An increase in price causes demand to fall,” Zegarra told The Republic.

High prices will continue

Juan Carlos Odar, director of Phase Consultores, pointed out that the international price and the drop in the import of the grain configures an unlikely scenario for a transfer to food to be generated, despite the drop in the dollar, since “consumers are obliged to acquire them because they are of first necessity”.

Climatic and geopolitical factors

Wheat futures have soared since 2021 due to climate problems from Australia to North America, especially the United States and Canada, explained Ramón Diez Matallana, an expert in agricultural economics at the Agricultural University.

So far in 2022, supply disruptions worried importers as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine erupted.