Total exports from Peru's Southern Macro Region increased by 24.3% in 2016's first half, reaching US$3.906 billion, Peru's private-run National Chamber of Commerce, Production and Services (Perucamaras) announced.
Growth was mainly driven by the good performance of the traditional sector, above all that of mining industry.
Traditional exports totaled US$3.548 billion; up by 27.6% from the same period last year.
In the macro region, traditional products accounted for 90.8% of total exports.
Traditional sector shipments experienced a 32.6% growth supported by exports of copper and concentrates. Together, they accounted for 55.2% of total exports.
Likewise, gold exports accounted for 30.9%, and registered a 27.2% increase.
Non-traditional exports
Non-traditional exports totaled US$358.1 billion, decreasing 0.9%. However, this sector accounted for 9.2% of macro region’s exporting structure.
Agroexports saw a 17.6% increase, accounting for 2.1% (US$82.8 million) of total shipments.
Artichokes (US$15.5 million), nuts (US$10.1 million), olives (US$7.8 million) and quinoa (US$5.3 million) were top products. Grapes, oregano, onions, seaweeds and paprika also stood out.
Likewise, iron and steel sector exports, as well as jewelry shipments, with a participation of 2%, grew by 4.8%.
Nevertheless, textile shipments (1.9% of total exports) decreased 19.6% due to drop in alpaca wool (-40.3%), clothing items (-16.7%) and sheep's wool (-8.5%).
China leads the ranking by receiving 29.5% of total shipments, followed by the United States (11.6%), Switzerland (10.9%) and Japan (7.6%).
These four targets welcomed 59.6% of exports from the southern macro region composed of Apurimac, Arequipa, Cusco, Madre de Dios, Moquegua, Tacna and Puno.
(END) MVM/JJN/JHM/MVB