The goods trade balance surplus amounted to US$6.886 billion in the first quarter of this year, an increase of US$2.128 billion compared to the same period in 2024, the
This growth was mainly explained by an increase in the prices and volumes of traditional product exports (18.8% and 6.6%, respectively), primarily due to higher international prices of industrial and precious metals, as well as greater shipped volumes of fishmeal and mining products.
Added value
Additionally, the growth was further supported primarily by the increase in export value of non-traditional products (21.6%). This was largely driven by the expansion of shipped volumes (20.5%), mainly from the agricultural, metallurgical, and textile sectors, and to a lesser extent by the rise in their prices, with notable contributions from fishery, metallurgical, and chemical products.
Secondly, the decline in import prices (-2.2%) also contributed, driven by lower costs for petroleum, as well as for industrial and food inputs.
Thus, the trade balance reached a surplus equivalent to 9.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2025, 2.1 percentage points higher than the figure recorded in the same period last year.