Korea: Peru Exports Double

BY JOACHIM BAMRUD

SEOUL -- Partly helped by a new free trade agreement, Peru's trade with Korea is set to jump this year, a Peruvian official says. 

“We expect to double or triple our exports in 2011 to Korea and Korean exports to grow 50 percent to Peru,”Peru’s Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism Jose Luis Silva told the Korea-LAC Business Forum here.

He predicted that Korea will soon become Peru’s second-largest trade partner in Asia, up from third today, in part due to a free trade agreement which took effect in August.

Last year, Peru’s exports to Korea grew 13 percent to $1 billion, while imports from Korea increased 47.2 percent to $944 million, according to the Korea International Trade Association.

“The FTAs are a necessity,” Silva said.

Peru is Korea’s fifth-largest trade partner in Latin America. Korean trade with all of Latin America grew 29 percent last year to $43.9 billion, according to the Korea International Trade Association. 

The Korea-LAC Business Forum was organized by the Inter-American Development Bank, the Korea Exim Bank, KOTRA, FKI and Korea's Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

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