Peru Quinoa demand climbs 53 percent and the destination map is shifting

Martín Garay

Published June 2026

1. The headline number behind Peru quinoa 2026

Peru exported $150.74M in quinoa in 2025, up 53% from $98.83M in 2023. Volume ran near 54.7 million kg at an average FOB of $2.76 per kg. 120 exporters cleared at least one shipment in 2025, and 66 of them stayed active into 2026. That second number is the working pool a sourcing or sales team actually meets at the table today. The structural question is whether that pool is concentrated in a few hands, fragmented across a long tail, or sitting in the middle. The next four signals answer that.

2. How concentrated the exporters field is

The top three exporters captured 45% of 2025 quinoa value. Olam, Alisur and Colorexa sit at the head of that group. Ranks 4 through 20 added another 46%, and the long tail of 100 exporters accounted for the remaining 9%. A category where the top three hold above 50% behaves like an oligopoly: the leaders set the price and the tail discounts to win volume. A category below 30% at the top behaves like a fragmented field: every shipment is contestable and the buyer or seller meets a new counterparty every quarter. Peru quinoa at 45% sits in the balanced band. That changes how a counterparty plans access: relationships matter more in concentrated markets, price discipline matters more in fragmented ones.

3. Who picked up share between 2023 and 2025

17 exporters inside the 2025 top twenty grew faster than 20% against their 2023 base. Highland Foods led the move, expanding from $87K in 2023 to $5.44M in 2025. The growers also include Granodep, Afi Impex, Agriprocess and Olam. This is the cohort that picked up share inside an otherwise stable headline. For a buyer they signal capacity coming online. For a competing seller they signal where new wallet share is moving. Separately, 34 exporters who recorded zero quinoa value in 2023 cleared shipments in 2025. New entrants tend to undercut on price for the first two years before normalizing, which is one of the moves the price chart reveals.

4. The geography behind the flow

Peru's quinoa flow ship to a handful of countries that account for most of the value. United States took 42% of 2025 exports, ahead of Canada at 7%, Italy at 6%. A market with one dominant destination is brittle: a tariff move or a logistics disruption against that country reroutes the whole flow inside a quarter. A diversified mix gives both sides shock absorbers. Active counterparts on those routes include Olam, Colorexa CORP, Riviana Foods and Simpli Group, among others.

5. The three price bands inside the average

The 2025 average FOB ran at $2.76 per kg. That headline hides three working bands. 47 exporters cleared above 10% of the average, signaling a premium tier where quality, specification, or relationship justifies the markup. 47 cleared inside the plus or minus 10% band where most of the volume sits. 26 cleared below 10% of the average, the discount tier that newcomers and large logistics-led players tend to occupy. A buyer who only meets the headline price walks past three different cost realities.