Peru seeks to add new markets for a more flexible commercial exchange. The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur) announced last week that will resume negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India and promote another with Hong Kong (China). However, there are three more negotiations on the way.

To boost Peruvian exports, especially goods and services that would grow by 4,7% between 2024 and 2027, in addition to agricultural exports, which have become an engine of economic growth due to the good dynamism registered in recent years, the Peruvian market points "to a greater integration to the world".

So, although currently Peru has free trade agreements (FTAs) with 29 countries that represent about 82% of world GDP, is in the process of negotiating agreements with five markets, including Hong Kong and India. But also with Türkiye, El Salvador and Nicaragua.

In 2013, Peru and Turkey agreed to formalize the start of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Said market, with more than 75 million inhabitants, They mainly demand mining, fishing, agricultural, leather and fur products, among others.

In 2017, meanwhile, Peru reactivated its negotiation round with El Salvador, after five years. While in 2021, the head of the Mincetur at that time, Claudia Cornejo, announced that the governments of Peru and Nicaragua began trade negotiations for the signing of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Among the main products exported to this market are biscuits, explosives, pharmaceutical products, products from the bakery industry, grapes and plastic manufactures..

It should be noted that These trade negotiations are advancing in a context in which Peru's exports of goods and services would grow less than expected in 2022 (3,6% compared to 6,9% projected in the Multiannual Macroeconomic Framework), given the lower growth prospects of trading partners that would be reflected in lower demand for products, mainly those with higher added value.

However, shipments of traditional and non-traditional products linked to the largest primary supply -such as copper and agro-export products- will sustain exports, refers to the Government in its Update Report on Macroeconomic Projections. It should be noted that only in the agro-export category, shipments of grapes, mangoes, blueberries and avocados to the Asian market are expected to increase in the short term (Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, among other countries), in line with the highest phytosanitary accesses achieved in 2022 (a total of 10).

"Now the free trade agreements (FTA), such as the trade promotion agreement with the United States (2009), the European Union (2013) and the United Kingdom (2020), allow a large part of the agro-exportable products to access these markets without further restrictions and exempt from the payment of tariffs. All this has allowed Peru consolidates itself as one of the leading countries in the export of agricultural products (such as blueberries, grapes, avocados, and quinoa) in the world," the report notes.