Editor’s Note
**Editor’s Note:** Peru’s exports surged 36.7% in the first five months of 2026, reaching US$45.128 billion, fueled by mining sector strength and a rebound in non-traditional categories, according to CIEN-ADEX.
Peru’s total exports reached US$45.128 billion between January and May 2026, registering a 36.7% increase compared to the same period last year (US$33.008 billion), driven by the performance of the mining sector and the recovery of some non-traditional supply categories, according to the Center for Research on Economics and Global Business of the Association of Exporters (CIEN-ADEX).
Six sectors recorded declines, including jewelry (-77.4%), metalworking (-17.5%), clothing (-8.3%), miscellaneous (-3.8%), textiles (-0.2%), and non-metallic mining (-0.04%). The jewelry sector experienced the most severe contraction.
The president of ADEX, César Tello Ramírez, stated that work must continue on a pro-export agenda. He indicated that efforts should focus on expanding the participation of more companies in foreign trade, generating greater added value, and enabling small and medium-sized enterprises to integrate into global value chains.
He added that maintaining export dynamism requires progress on structural aspects such as improving infrastructure, reducing logistics costs, simplifying processes, and ensuring greater predictability for investment.
In its Export Report – May 2026, CIEN-ADEX detailed that traditional exports (US$36.324 billion) increased by 48.8%. Within this group, mining stood out (US$33 billion), achieving a 53.7% advance. Other sectors included hydrocarbons (US$1.881 billion), fishing (US$1.100 billion), and agriculture (US$267 million), with increases of 18.4%, 0.1%, and 27.9%, respectively.
Non-traditional exports (US$8.804 billion) maintained a positive trend with a 2.4% increase. Agro-industry (US$4.239 billion) stood out as the leading category, followed by chemicals (US$1.080 billion), fishing (US$1.014 billion), and steel/metallurgy (US$940.6 million). All these sectors showed positive growth rates of 3.8%, 6.7%, 8.8%, and 7.6%, respectively. The wood category (US$29.3 million) also grew by 9%.
However, six other activities recorded declines: jewelry (-77.4%), metalworking (-17.5%), clothing (-8.3%), miscellaneous (-3.8%), textiles (-0.2%), and non-metallic mining (-0.04%).
According to CIEN-ADEX, some sectors have not yet surpassed their records from previous years, including clothing and wood (2008), textiles and miscellaneous (2014), primary fishing (2021), traditional agriculture and hydrocarbons (2022), non-metallic mining (2023), and metalworking and jewelry (2025).
The main markets were China (US$17.390 billion), accounting for 38.5% of the total, followed by India (10.6%), the USA (9.5%), the European Union (8.8%), Canada (5.3%), Switzerland (3.4%), and Japan (3.2%).
The top five exporting regions were Lima (US$6.305 billion), Arequipa (US$4.850 billion), Ica (US$4.824 billion), Áncash (US$4.253 billion), and Puno (US$4.118 billion).
