Pecans
from Peru

Peru's pecan belt sits in Ica, roughly 300 kilometers south of Lima, where a rainless desert climate and warm days give the nut a clean, uniform kernel. Ica holds about 1,560 hectares of the country's 3,700-plus planted hectares, followed by Chincha near 400 hectares and Pisco near 250 hectares. The signature cultivar is Mahan, a large, thin-shelled variety that international buyers pay up to three US dollars per kilogram above standard grades, alongside Stuart and Success. Most orchards are small family holdings of one to five hectares, and a tree takes ten to twelve years to reach full commercial yield.

The commercial edge is timing. Peru harvests in the Southern Hemisphere autumn and early winter, roughly May through September, which fills the Northern Hemisphere off-season while the United States and Mexico harvest their own crop from October to December. Exports have climbed from about 1,000 tons a year toward a projected 2,500 to 3,000 tons in 2025, reaching 32 markets led by Germany, Hong Kong, and Ecuador. In September 2025 Ica shipped Peru's first pecans to China, 25 tons, after the phytosanitary protocol was signed in November 2024 and SENASA certified the batch from ten authorized packing facilities, nine in Ica and one in Chincha. Ica orchards depend on groundwater, so technified drip systems that reach 90 to 95 percent water-use efficiency, against 55 to 60 percent for gravity irrigation, are central to keeping the aquifer and the crop viable.