01Key Takeaways
- Peru exported $64.36 billion worth of goods in 2023, up 10.6% from $58.17 billion in 2022, a new five-year high.
- Ores, slag and ash, dominated by copper concentrate, led every export category at 41.9% of the total ($26.95 billion).
- Precious metals, pearls and stones, largely gold and silver, ranked second among export categories at 13.5% ($8.68 billion).
- China bought 36.0% of Peru's exports ($23.16 billion), more than the next five partners on the list combined.
025-Year Trend
| Year | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $46.1B | $38.8B | $56.3B | $58.2B | $64.4B |
03Top Export Markets (2023)
| Rank | Partner | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | $23.2B | 36.0% |
| 2 | United States | $9.2B | 14.3% |
| 3 | Canada | $3.0B | 4.6% |
| 4 | India | $2.5B | 3.9% |
| 5 | South Korea | $2.3B | 3.6% |
| 6 | Japan | $2.2B | 3.4% |
| 7 | Chile | $1.9B | 3.0% |
| 8 | Spain | $1.9B | 2.9% |
| 9 | Netherlands | $1.8B | 2.8% |
| 10 | Brazil | $1.7B | 2.7% |
04Top Export Categories (2023)
| Rank | Category | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ores, Slag and Ash | $26.9B | 41.9% |
| 2 | Natural or Cultured Pearls, Precious or Semi-Precious Stones, Precious Metals, Metals Clad with Precious Metal, and Articles thereof; Imitation Jewellery; Coin | $8.7B | 13.5% |
| 3 | Edible Fruit and Nuts; Peel of Citrus Fruit or Melons | $5.5B | 8.5% |
| 4 | Mineral Fuels, Mineral Oils and Products of their Distillation; Bituminous Substances; Mineral Waxes | $4.4B | 6.8% |
| 5 | Copper and Articles thereof | $3.6B | 5.6% |
| 6 | Fish and Crustaceans, Molluscs and other Aquatic Invertebrates | $1.4B | 2.1% |
| 7 | Residues and Waste from the Food Industries; Prepared Animal Fodder | $1.2B | 1.9% |
| 8 | Coffee, Tea, Mate and Spices | $1.1B | 1.8% |
| 9 | Articles of Apparel and Clothing Accessories, Knitted or Crocheted | $1.1B | 1.7% |
| 10 | Zinc and Articles thereof | $853.6M | 1.3% |
05Trade Partner Map
06Analysis
Exports Have Climbed to a New Five-Year High
Peru exported $64.36 billion worth of goods in 2023, up 10.6% from $58.17 billion in 2022. That marks the strongest total anywhere in this five-year dataset for the country, and the fourth straight year of growth since a pandemic-era low.
Exports stood at $46.13 billion in 2019, then fell to $38.76 billion in 2020 as the pandemic disrupted global trade and mining operations alike. The rebound that followed was sharp. The total jumped to $56.26 billion in 2021, then continued climbing to $58.17 billion in 2022 and $64.36 billion in 2023. Four consecutive years of growth since that 2020 low have pushed the total well past its pre-pandemic level, a recovery pattern shared by several mining-heavy economies in this dataset. Metal prices, mine output and global demand all move somewhat independently of each other, and a strong year on all three fronts at once helps explain a gain as large as the one Peru posted in 2023.
Copper, Gold and Silver Dominate a Mining-Driven Export Economy
Ores, slag and ash led every export category in 2023, worth $26.95 billion, or 41.9% of the total, driven overwhelmingly by copper concentrate. Precious metals, pearls and stones, a category dominated in practice by gold and silver, ranked second at 13.5% ($8.68 billion). Peru ranked as the world's second-largest producer of copper, silver and zinc as of 2019, and that same mineral base shows up again further down this list. Copper articles, a smaller downstream category distinct from the raw ore above, added a further 5.6% ($3.60 billion), and zinc closed out the top ten at 1.3% ($853.60 million).
Fruit and nuts ranked third at 8.5% ($5.47 billion), reflecting a fresh produce export sector that has expanded rapidly in recent years as Peruvian growers have built up berry, avocado and grape shipments to markets in North America, Europe and Asia. Mineral fuels contributed 6.8% ($4.40 billion). Fish and crustaceans added 2.1% ($1.36 billion), a modest headline figure that undersells the size of Peru's fishing industry, since much of what that sector produces gets processed into fishmeal and fish oil before it ever leaves the country. Food industry residues and prepared animal fodder, closely tied to that same fishing industry, contributed 1.9% ($1.19 billion). Coffee, tea and spices added 1.8% ($1.14 billion), and knitted apparel closed in at 1.7% ($1.08 billion).
Three separate metals, copper, gold and silver, plus zinc, account for well over half of everything Peru sells abroad. Add mineral fuels on top of that, and the export base leans almost entirely on what comes out of the ground. Agriculture and fishing fill in a smaller but genuine share of the remainder. Few economies in this dataset show this level of concentration in extractive industries specifically, as opposed to a single crop or a single energy product. Peru's case spans multiple different metals at once, which spreads some of the underlying commodity-price risk across copper, gold, silver and zinc rather than resting on just one of them.
China Buys More Than a Third of Peru's Exports
China purchased 36.0% of Peru's exports in 2023, worth $23.16 billion, more than the next five partners on this list combined. The USA ranked second at 14.3% ($9.18 billion), and Canada followed at 4.6% ($2.99 billion). Together, those three buyers made up 54.9% of total export value.
India added 3.9% ($2.53 billion), and the Rep. of Korea contributed 3.6% ($2.34 billion). Japan added 3.4% ($2.22 billion), and Chile contributed 3.0% ($1.95 billion). Spain added 2.9% ($1.88 billion), and the Netherlands contributed 2.8% ($1.80 billion). Brazil closed out the top ten at 2.7% ($1.73 billion).
China's position at the top of this list tracks closely with the mineral concentration described above. A single buyer absorbing more than a third of a country's total export value is a significant dependency. It leaves Peru's export earnings sensitive to shifts in Chinese demand for copper and other industrial metals in a way that a more evenly spread partner list would not.
Taken together, Peru's 2023 export data describes a mining economy built primarily around copper, gold and silver, sold overwhelmingly to a single dominant buyer, with fresh produce and fishing contributing a smaller but real share of the total. Whatever happens next in global metals markets and in Chinese demand specifically will likely matter more for Peru's export earnings than any other single factor.