Totaling $39,351,154,000 in 2020, Peruvian exports fell 15.3 percent when compared to 2019. According to the Association of Exporters (ADEX), only the agribusiness closed the year in the black, as reported by Piura News.
Erik Fischer Llanos, President of the union, stated that “it was time to make structural changes to improve the competitiveness of the national productive apparatus. In the first months of the state of emergency, Peruvian exports were the most affected in Latin America. Moreover, the violent actions in at least three regions of the country in December not only put public health at risk but also had an effect on shipments.”
He states that shipments grew by 7% in September and 3% in October and fell by 6% in November and 15% in December. In total, traditional shipments contracted by 23% and non-traditional ones increased 5%. Llanos also adds that the outlook for this year is not clear with instability over the world and changes in the Agrarian Promotion Law. He estimates that in the right scenario, pre-crisis levels could be reached in 2022.
According to ADEX, traditional shipments reached $26,457,000 million in 2020, reflecting a 19 percent decrease. The most important market being China, which reduced its orders by 17.6 percent. Followed by the US with an increase in its demand by 21 percent, Canada +3.3 percent, South Korea +.9 percent, Japan -10 percent, Switzerland -40.1 percent, India -38.5 percent, the United Arab Emirates -26.3 percent, Germany -27.6 percent, and Brazil -55.7 percent.
Non-Traditional product shipments amounted to $12.893 billion, shrinking by 6.7 percent. The agricultural-agroindustrial sectors amounted to $6.839 billion, growing by 8.2 percent. Its main items were grapes and blueberries, followed by avocados which presented a .26 percent FOB increase and a 31.4 percent increase in volume.
Fresh asparagus shipment totaled $385,391,000 ranking in fifth place, followed by mangoes in sixth with $290,672,000 which had a 23.7 percent increase in volume.
Peru shipped their product to 169 destinations, with the top 5 being the US with $3.933 billion, the Netherlands with $1.278 billion, and Chile with $723,073,000, followed by Spain and Ecuador.
