Peruvian exports fell for a sixth consecutive month in September to $3.86 billion, 3.3 percent lower than the year-earlier period, the private sector export association Adex reported.
Peru’s exports have declined sharply in recent months, mainly due to lower prices for metals, which have impacted the country’s important mineral shipments abroad. Minerals account for approximately 60 percent of Peru’s total exports.
While Peru’s exports declined in September, the decrease was less than in prior months when they fell by double-digits.
Traditional exports, which include raw materials like minerals, declined 2 percent in the month to $3.01 billion, while non-traiditional exports, which include manufactured goods, declined 6.4 percent to $849 million, daily El Comercio reported.
In the first nine months of this year, Peru’s exports totaled $33.5 billion, which is 3 percent less than the same period in 2011.
Exporters are feeling the crunch of a weak global economy. Adex says that 2,106 companies in the non-traditional sectors have stopped exporting between January and August.
The government has promised to implement measures to support the exporters. The president of Adex, Juan Varilias, said that exporters should see the benefits of those measures in the first half of 2013.
Adex has also asked the government to allow some of the exporters to pay taxes in dollars, which would help them avoid costs with exchange rate as the sol has strengthened steadily against the U.S. currency.
The Finance Ministry has said it has no plans to allow exporters to make payments in dollars.
Unless Peru wants to impoverish itself, it should purchase its desires with gold, not ship it out which is the way of the conquestidor.