Expoalimentaria 2026 opens in Lima with coca beer on the shelf
Peru's biggest food trade fair runs 23 to 25 September at the Jockey Exhibition Centre, with more than 700 exhibitors and an innovation contest that ranges from mango-passion fruit chocolate to a prebiotic mint drink.
Expoalimentaria 2026, Latin America's largest food and beverage trade fair, opened on 23 September at the Centro de Exposiciones Jockey in Lima, organised by the exporters' association ADEX.
Organisers expect more than 31,000 visitors and around 1,200 international buyers across the three-day run, with over 700 exhibitors covering food and beverages, packaging, machinery and food-processing technology. The fair positions itself as the main deal-making floor for Peru's food export sector rather than a consumer showcase.
Peru's agro-exports totalled $6.568 billion between January and July 2026, up 2 percent on the $6.442 billion recorded over the same period in 2025, according to figures cited around the fair. The country's export catalogue runs to roughly 550 tariff lines, and organisers have pointed to further diversification, beyond staples like grapes and blueberries, as the sector's main open question.
Peru's export catalogue runs to roughly 550 tariff lines, and diversification remains the sector's main open question.
What the innovation contest turned up
The fair's fifteenth product innovation contest judged entries in five categories, scored for health positioning, indulgence, convenience and eco-credentials. In coffee, cacao and byproducts, a mango-and-passion-fruit chocolate from Mazomayo and a cacao-husk-and-cashew butter from Sustainable Food Company reached the final round. The confectionery category ran chickpea and quinoa chips against protein bars, while gourmet oils included a smoked extra-virgin olive oil and a Hass avocado oil.
The drinks category was the most unusual: finalists included a coca-leaf beer, a rosé wine, an anti-hangover shot and a prebiotic mint beverage, entries that point to where Peruvian producers think growth sits next, past the raw commodities that still dominate export volumes.
A fair built on export numbers
Peru's table grape exports alone hit $790 million in the first half of 2026, and Expoalimentaria's finalists this year lean toward processed and packaged goods rather than fresh produce, a shift ADEX has encouraged as a way to capture more margin before shipment. The fair runs through 25 September before exhibitors head into the country's autumn harvest season. ADEX has run Expoalimentaria for more than two decades, and this edition leans harder on processed goods than most, a shift the association reads as evidence that exporters want to stop shipping raw commodities and start shipping finished products with a brand attached.
