Ficha Tecnica Aguaje

EL MERCADO DE LOS CITRICOS EN CANADA
I. Peru overview
1) Country and resources
Peru is one of the largest countries in South America with an area of 1.28 million km2. It is
located on the Western Coast of the continent, bordering Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and
Ecuador. The capital is Lima. The country is divided into three geographical regions: the coastal
plain (Costa) bordering theSouth Pacific ocean, the Andean Mountains (Sierra) in the centre, and
the dense forest of the Amazon Basin (Montana) in the East. The natural resources are copper,
silver, gold, petroleum, timber, fish, iron ore, coal, phosphate, potash, hydropower and natural
gas.

2) Population and society
The population is of 28,409,897 inhabitants (July 2003 estimate), of whom 90% are Roman
Catholic.The majority of Peruvians people speak Spanish (first official language), around 25%
of Peruvians speak Quecha (second official language) and in the South of the Andes and in the
area of Lake Titicaca, people speak Aymara (unofficial language). The Ethnic groups are
Amerindian 45%, mestizo (mix of Ameridian and white) 37%, white 15%, with the last 3% being
a mix of black, Japanese, Chinese andother backgrounds. Since the Constitution of 1993, Peru is
a constitutional republic. The president of the republic and the 120 members of Congress are
elected for 5 years. The current president is Alejandro TOLEDO. Peru is subdivided into 24
departments and 1 constitutional province but the country is currently implementing a
decentralizing program to change this into 25 regions.

MostafaAmine, Simon Desbois, Georges El Murr, Dominic Rossi, Laurent Verbruggen

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3) Economy
50% of the population is under the official poverty line and around 10% are unemployed. Over
one third of people are farmers, many people have a small piece of land which provides them
with subsistence, while others work in small or large farming. The currency is the Nuevo Sol
(PEN), which was worthapproximately USD 0.29 and CAD 0.38 on 26 March 2004.
The mining industry is very important for the economy, because Peru is one of the world’s
biggest producers of silver (2nd), lead (4rd), tin (5rd) and copper (8rd). Petroleum, natural gas
and steel are also extracted in important quantities. The small farms located in the Sierra and
Montana produce for the internal market, whereas the largefarms located on the coast work for
the export sector. Peru’s main agricultural products are: coffee, sugar cane, rice, corn, coca,
cotton, wheat, poultry, potatoes, wool, beef, dairy products, fish, and plantains. The fishing
industry is also an important part of the export industry. Other significant industries are: textiles,
clothing, food processing, metal fabrication, auto assembly,shipbuilding and cement. The forest
that covers 54% of the country is not significantly exploited by industry.

4) Foreign trade and trade agreements
Peru has developed and maintains good relations with many partners across the world. The most
important export partners are the US, China, UK, Switzerland and Japan. The main exported
products are fish and fish products, gold, copper, zinc, crudepetroleum and petroleum byproducts, lead, coffee, sugar and cotton. As for imports, most important partners are the US,
Chile, Spain, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina. The main imported products are
machinery, transportation equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum, iron and steel, chemicals, and
pharmaceuticals.
Peru is member of the Andean community. Foreign trade is regulated by GATT (WTO), theAsociación Latinoamericana de Integración (ALADI: Latin American Integration Association),
and Peru has signed the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA: Área de Libre Comercio
de las Américas = ALCA) with Bolivia and preliminary discussions around the FTAA are in
progress with Canada.
Mostafa Amine, Simon Desbois, Georges El Murr, Dominic Rossi, Laurent Verbruggen

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