A Heritage of Fine Flavor and Sustainable Growth

By Espinosa Bellido Abogados

For the twelfth year in a row, Peru commemorated on October 1, 2023, its Cacao and Chocolate Day, an important commercial platform to highlight cacao as an original product with high genetic diversity from the Peruvian Amazon.

Peru is the center of origin of cacao, which is recognized worldwide for its natural characteristics, fine flavor, and aroma. The country is considered one of the main world producers and exporters of cacao, with the main markets for exports being the Netherlands, Indonesia, Mexico, Malaysia, the United States, Italy, Spain and Germany, among others.

Peru is the third largest exporter of organic cacao in the world, only behind Mexico and Indonesia, and is one of the ten producing and exporting nations of this product.

Its native cacao varieties include as white cacao of Piura, pure national cacao of San Ignacio, Marañon cacao of Jaen, Chuncho cacao of Cusco, and Montaña cacao of Junin, which are recognized as fine cacao, among others. They all have high commercial and sustainable value in the international market.

In addition, cacao cultivation involves approximately 90,000 producers, mainly family farmers located in 16 regions across the country, who in 2022 achieved a production of 170,300 tons.
Between 2000 and 2020, global cacao production grew by 72%, and Peru has been the second country, whose production has grown the most in said period.