Peru’s foreign trade totaled US$68.5 billion up to July 2022

Peru’s foreign trade of goods reached a value of US$68.5 billion between January and July 2022, an increase of 17.3% compared to the same period last year, the Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Roberto Sanchez, reported on Thursday.

“We are pleased to announce that, after the first seven months of the year, the foreign trade of goods has grown by 17.3%, compared to the same period of 2021 (…) That is the result of a synergistic work between the public and private sector to strengthen and reactivate the sector’s development,” the minister said in a statement.

According to the portfolio, this increase was primarily driven by an increase in imports, which totaled US$31.5 billion and grew at a year-on-year rate of 20%.

For their part, exports reached around US$37 billion through July and thus reported an increase of 15% over the same months of 2021.

Specifically, the ministry highlighted the export of energy goods, which had a growth of 163.9%.

In that sense, it highlighted natural gas, the country’s third most important export good, whose sales totaled US$2.2 billion up to July, showing a 394% growth compared to the same range last year.

“Forty-five percent of the natural gas exported from our country has gone to the United Kingdom, with whom, since December 2020, we have had a trade agreement (…) In the current year, only in the first seven months, trade (with the United Kingdom) amounted to US$1.2 billion,” Sanchez pointed out.

Likewise, agro-industrial exports rose, with sales amounting to US$4.8 billion, representing an increase of almost 20%, mainly due to the increase in coffee (239.4%), blueberries (123.7%), and grapes (13.9%).

On the other hand, exports of textiles and clothing reached a value of US$1.1 billion, registering a 34.5% increase thanks to higher sales of cotton products, which grew by 40%.

Regarding imports, the ministry detailed that higher international prices drove the growth in commodities, such as fertilizers and oil, which rose by 108% and 60%, respectively.

Imports of non-durable consumer goods also grew by 11.7%, mainly due to clothing (14.6%) and toiletries and cleaning products (13.9%).

With information from EFE