Abstract

Peru is among the leading exporters of asparagus. Considering the Peruvian asparagus value chain, the National Institute for the Protection of Competition and Intellectual Property (INDECOPI), together with the Peruvian Standardization and Non-tarriff Barriers Surveillance Commision, decided to analyze two organizations in representation of this sector. The first is a leading agro-exporter for which asparagus represents around 50% of revenue, ''DanPer Trujillo''. The companyoperates in two locations, with a workforce of around six thousand people. The second is a logistics consortium, ''Civil Association FríoAéreo'', which handles nearly all Peruvian fresh asparagus shipments by air. Around 80% of Peru's total exports of perishable goods are dispatched through the cold chain management facilities of FríoAéreo. The use of quality and safety standards by DanPer influences the improvement of suppliers' operations and their deliverables upstream. As a downstream service provider of storage (cold chain management facilities), use of standards by FríoAéreo is critical to reducing inadequate handling risks and, given its position in the market, it can influence the implementation of process, safety and quality standards by its customers (Peruvian agro-exporters of fresh products), thus contributing to optimizing the quality of their products. The assessment focuses on Inbound and outbound logistics, Production/operations and Marketing and sales business functions. While the methodology is fully applied only to one leading company (DanPer) and in qualitative terms to a key service provider for the whole industry (FríoAéreo), the study recognizes the essential role that standards play for the Peruvian asparagus sector in facilitating access to markets and in improving production processes and activities. However, it is also observed that, while implementation of standards has certainly contributed to performance and impressive growth, this contribution cannot be separated from the existence of ''Free Trade Agreements'', which have been essential for the development of the sector. Considering the specfic case of DanPer, the contribution of standards to the company EBIT is estimated at 1.7 % of the total revenue from asparagus.

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