This year the Salon del Cacao & Chocolate was held at Parque de la Reserva in Lima with more than 80 stands dedicated to cocoa and derived products and the presence of more than 30 thousand people. Peru produces 71 thousand 4 hundred metric tonnes of cocoa and exports 45 thousand metric tonnes to Asia, Europe, Oceania and the United States for more than 145 million dollars. Most of the chocolate produced in Peru is of high quality, elaborated with 60 to 70 percent of the best cocoa in the world.
The US Government through the Agency of the United States for International Development, USAID, has supported in the last years more than 30 thousand Peruvian farmers who left illicit coca cultivation for cocoa crops, benefiting themselves with an improvement in their quality of life.
In the launch event participated authorities from the Commission for Development and Life without Drugs (DEVIDA), the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, the Peruvian Association of Cocoa Producers (Appcacao), the Commission for Promotion of Peru for Exports and Tourism (Promperú) and USAID.