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Peru: the small paste exporter joins the big league
With an average of over 17,000 tonnes of pastes exported annually over the last three years, Peru ranks 11th worldwide among exporters in this sector.
The Peruvian tomato processing industry has seen unprecedented growth in recent years, boosting its trade surplus from USD 4 million in 2015/2016 to almost USD 30 million in 2022/2023 and USD 23 million last year. This increase has been due to a combination of higher world prices for tomato products, particularly in the paste category (codes 200290), and a significant rise in the quantities of pastes exported by Peruvian processors.
Over the last nine marketing years, Peru has seen a slow deterioration in its trade balance for the tomato sauces and ketchup category (codes 210320), with the deficit rising from -540 tonnes (t) to -1,300 tonnes and from less than USD 1 million to almost USD 2.5 million (see additional information).
At the same time, annual Peruvian imports and exports of canned tomatoes (codes 200210) only amounted to a few dozen tonnes, with virtually no effect on the balance of trade in USD terms.
Over the last nine marketing years, Peru has seen a slow deterioration in its trade balance for the tomato sauces and ketchup category (codes 210320), with the deficit rising from -540 tonnes (t) to -1,300 tonnes and from less than USD 1 million to almost USD 2.5 million (see additional information).
At the same time, annual Peruvian imports and exports of canned tomatoes (codes 200210) only amounted to a few dozen tonnes, with virtually no effect on the balance of trade in USD terms.
The bulk of Peruvian trade is based on the production and export of tomato pastes, with quantities rising from 12,000 t in 2016/2017 to over 18,000 t in 2021/2022 and then to around 17,000 t over the last two marketing years. The commercial context of the Peruvian industry, which was long focused exclusively on neighboring countries in Central and South America, has in recent years expanded its reach to include sales to Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Honduras, but also increasingly to Italy and Portugal, which for a long time were suppliers to the Peruvian market and only occasionally clients of its national industry.
In fact, the bulk of Peruvian revenue from tomato product exports is the result of sales to the Central American markets already mentioned, as well as to Brazil and Bolivia, and to a few other smaller markets that are more or less nearby. Italy, Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands have occasionally imported pastes or sauces produced in Peru, notably in 2022/2023. Lastly, the reversal in the balance of trade with the overall region of South America, from a surplus position until 2021/2022 to a deficit position from 2022/2023 onwards, is the result of the significant drop in foreign sales of pastes on the Brazilian, Bolivian and Uruguayan markets, and the concomitant rise in the quantities and prices of pastes imported from Chile.
Some complementary data
Average Peruvian trade balance over the last three years in US dollars.
Average Peruvian trade balance over the last three years in US dollars.
Peruvian trade balance for tomato sauces, in t
Source: TDM
