Peruvian imports recovered to US$39.882 billion in 2017, up 9.9% over the previous year thanks to domestic demand, private-run Foreign Trade Society (ComexPeru) said Monday.
It must be noted imports have experienced recovery after three straight years of decline.
This result was driven by greater intermediate goods (+17.9%) and consumer goods (+8.4%) purchases.
According to Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCR), this trend is expected to continue over the coming years.
Origin
In 2017, Peruvian products were mainly imported by the following countries:
China (totaling US$8.870 billion, up 7.7% from 2016), United States (US$8.074 billion, +13.7%), Brazil (US$2.460 billion, +15.5%), Mexico (US$1.775 billion, +5.9%), and Ecuador (US$1.568 billion, +42.5%).
Intermediate goods
Imports of intermediate goods amounted to US$18.423 billion last year, the highest figure recorded over the last three years, accounting for 46.2% of the country’s purchases.
Likewise, intermediate goods purchases for the industry, which made up 28.1% of total
imports, increased 9.1% compared to 2016.
The most demanded products included hard yellow corn (totaling US$625.7 million, up 7.8% from 2016), other wheat (US$480.4 million, +24%), and soybean oil (US$332.2 million, +20%).
China and the United States stood out as Peru’s major suppliers with shipments worth US$2.222 billion and US$2.491 billion, respectively.
Together, they accounted for 42.1% of total intermediate goods purchases for the industry.
Consumer goods
According to BCR, the consumer confidence index showed positive results, particularly at the end of 2017, which reflects the optimism in expectations of the family’s economic situation.
«This contributed to the increase of demand for consumer goods, which reached US$9.510 billion, a 23.8% of total purchases,» ComexPeru underscored.
The most imported products were assembled vehicles with cylinder capacity between 1,000 cm3 and 3,000 cm3 (US$1.297 billion) and televisions (US$433.2 million).
