The rapid descent of the Peruvian Sol is affecting consumers in Peru. While the US is seeing official rates of inflation below the Fed target of 2%, Peru is paying a lot more for imported products including appliances because of the decline in the national currency the Peruvian Sol.
Continue reading Peruvian Sol Breaks Psychological $3.10 Barrier, Inflation in Appliances
Another month has flown by, and here we are in March already. We did however manage to get all of the materials for the solar coffee drying tents lined up, and they all have a waiting space in San Ramon for installation in May.
Meanwhile, we’re focused on the move. Just to bring you up to speed, our place in Lima is going to be needed by the owners, so we’ve decided to relocate home base in Peru to the cloud forest region of San Martin province and the tropical city of Tarapoto. Everything is lined up, we’re just waiting until the last possible moment to do the final wrap. It quite literally is a wrap, as we’ll be covering up everything that’s not in a box (and those too) in shrink wrap. Everything goes tomorrow!
We had wanted to go to Chanchamayo this trip personally, but there were many washed out roads & even impassable river crossings, so we just decided to focus on the growing season ahead (see Massive Flooding in the Peruvian Rainforest, and Torrential Rains & Mudslides Continue to Plague Peru.)
Continue reading Real People, Really Good Coffee Update March 2015
I try to keep up with the news as much as I can, and Yrma often points out things that may be of interest. We watch with particular attention to news that affect the Peruvian economy, and we tend to focus of course on agricultural imports, in particular coffee & chocolate. Here’s several translated articles that you may enjoy.
Two of the things that we’ve always wanted to import are cocoa (cacao) & chocolate products such as nibs, and raw cocoa pasta. We have met many smaller and medium sized producers, and visited farms and seen the whole process from picking the beans, fermentation, drying, roasting, cleaning, mixing and finally to adding ingredients to form something marvelous to the tongue…
Continue reading A Trip to the Chocolate Factory and a Startling Fact
We’re currently staying in Tarapoto (the City of the Palms,) which is a laid back medium sized city in a cloud forest region of Peru. One lure to this area is the vast amount of natural areas that surround Tarapoto in the region of San Martin.
One of those natural attractions is the cascading waterfalls at Ahuashiyacu. Considered by many to be the best falls overall, it’s certainly the closest, at just 14 km from Tarapoto.
The Lima Chamber of Commerce recorded a six-fold expansion of the crop. (Photo: Andina/Melina Mejia)
6 Fold Increase in Production
From Peru This Week:
Growth in the quinoa market increased from 8 new markets in 2013 to 18 new markets in 2014. These markets include major importers such as Poland, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, China, and later Malaysia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Romania and Portugal in 2014.
According to Carlos Garcia, manager of CCEX, the main market for Peruvian quinoa above all is the United States.
Of the varieties of quinoa, white quinoa is the most commonly exported making up 85%, followed by red quinoa at 10%.
In 2014, quinoa finished fourth in major agricultural products exported after grapes, asparagus, and avocados.
Continue reading US is Largest Consumer of Peruvian Quinoa
Depending on who you talk to or read these days, the Peruvian economy is robust, or slowing. While officials remain upbeat & expect economic growth to be close to 5%, they missed the mark by nearly half last year. (see Why the Peruvian Economy Matters to the World) While the continued decline of the Sol vs the USD is supportive of export growth, the fact that 50% of all debt in Peru is denominated in dollars will offset any gains from a lower national currency.
While in the northeast US tremendous cold & snowfall have left millions longing for Spring, torrential rains have left much destruction & misery in the rainforest areas of Peru this summer. This year has been a year of climate extremes and records.
Continue reading Torrential Rains & Mudslides Continue to Plague Peru
It’s an exciting time for wanna be coffee importers. After successfully overcoming myriad obstacles, Yrma & I managed to get our coffee from the central rainforest of Peru to the Port of Callao in Lima, Peru, then on to Long Beach (where we encountered first hand what happens when there’s a longshoreman work slowdown,) from there to northwest Arizona & to select coffee shops in Kingman, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.
Continue reading Real People, Really Good Coffee (Update February 2015)
Today, the Peruvian Sol fell to its lowest level in nearly 6 years despite Central Bank Intervention.
Via El Comercio (Bing Translator)
Continue reading Peruvian Sol Falls Below 3.08 to the Dollar, Lowest in 6 Years
