Peru records an annual trade surplus of US$8.651 billion as of February 2023

Peru reached an annualized trade surplus of US$8.651 billion as of last February, after the trade balance reached US$866 million that month, informed today, Sunday, the Central Bank of Reserves (BCRP).

The institution said in a statement that in the second month of this year, exports totaled US$4.701 billion, representing a reduction of 18% compared to February 2022 due to lower volumes and prices of products.

He assured that this was partly due to the “transportation problems that copper and gold companies faced” that month, particularly in the southern region, which was hard hit by a wave of anti-government protests with road blockades that began last December.

In the first two months of this year, 2023, foreign sales accumulated US$9.521 billion, 15.2% lower than in the same period of the previous year.

Likewise, the issuing entity detailed that the dispatches of traditional products amounted to US$3.080 billion, which meant a 27.8% inter-annual decrease, mainly due to the lower volumes and prices of mining products.

In the first two months of the year, traditional exports decreased by 23.7%, while non-traditional exports increased by 9%.

It should be noted that non-traditional products grew 10.6% year-on-year in February, totaling US$1.601 billion, explained by higher volumes of agricultural and fishing products shipped and higher prices of textile and non-metallic mining products.

On the other hand, the BCRP stated that imports totaled US$3.835 billion in the second month of this year, lower by 4%, mainly due to lower volumes of industrial inputs.

Accumulated purchases from abroad totaled US$7.461 billion so far in January and February 2023, which represented a reduction of 9.6% concerning the same period of 2022, he noted.