Peru’s exports declined almost 20 percent in July, continuing a recent downturn in the country’s shipments abroad this year.
Peru’s National Statistics and Information Bureau, or INEI, said that exports totaled $3.39 billion, which is a decreased of 19.5 percent compared to the same month in 2011.
INEI said the decrease was “due to the reduction of exported volumes of traditional products and the fall in international prices of some minerals (copper, silver, lead and zinc), coffee, crude oil and its derivatives.”
Peru’s exports have declined in recent months due to a slowdown in the global economy.
The private-sector export association, Adex, recently revised down its forecast for Peru’s exports this year to $42.8 billion, which would be a 7.9 percent decrease from last year.
INEI also said Tuesday that Peru’s imports in July totaled $3.58 billion, which is an increase of 23.2 percent compared to the year-earlier month.
Peru had a trade deficit of $192 million in July, INEI said.
