Bolivia posts record peanut exports in first 6 months of 2021

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The increase in the first 6 months of 2021 represented 27% in value and 19% in volume compared to the same period in 2020, highlighted the Vice Minister of Foreign Trade and Integration Benjamín Blanco.

The exported peanuts are produced in Santa Cruz (95%), Cochabamba and Chuquisaca, while the main market is the Andean Region (84%), followed by the European Union (9%), the official added.

This Andean-Amazonian nation ranks 19th worldwide among suppliers of the product, whose marketable figure stands at around 3.6 billion tons.

According to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE), Bolivia produces 20,486 tons of peanuts annually, with an average yield of 1,42 kilograms per hectare.

In the Chaco agricultural areas (covering the departments of Chuquisaca, Santa Cruz and Tarija), 1,250 kilograms per hectare are obtained, higher than the national average yield, illustrating these regions’ potential.

According to Bolivian authorities, the results in this and other sectors are signs of recovery of an economy battered by Covid-19 and the management of interim president Jeanine Áñez’s government.