Peru’s exports will fall this year by 9 percent, driven by both lower international and domestic factors, according to the private-sector Association of Exporters, or Adex, daily Gestion reported.
From January to September, exports have declined 10.6 percent. The decrease has mainly been due to a fall in traditional commodity exports like copper and gold. Mineral exports have declined due to a fall in global metals prices, which Peru has no control over.
However Adex said that the decline in the country’s overall exports has also been due to domestic factors. Earlier this week, the Lima Chamber of Commerce called for reforms in order to better take advantage of the country’s many free trade agreements. The chamber said that Peru wasn’t taking advantage of 11 of the 17 free trade accords it has signed over the last several years.
“There are several reasons to think that the crisis in the export sector can’t be explained just by the contraction of developed economies,” said Adex President Eduardo Amorrortu.
“If all of the countries are facing the same international conditions, why is it that our performance is worse than the others in the region?” Amorrortu said. “The world has changed and we continue with the same strategies as always?”
About 60 percent of Peru’s exports are from the mining sector. A growing percentage of exports have also come from nontraditional goods including textiles and some agricultural products.
