Containerboard demand in Peru maintains positive momentum in 2025

After a challenging 2023 due to unfavorable weather and political tensions that affected business, the Peruvian containerboard market noted a strong sales rebound in the second half of 2024 that has continued to date, sources told Fastmarkets.

Key market participants interviewed by Fastmarkets predicted that corrugated board sales will grow by at least 4% this year. This follows an already strong year of sales in 2024.

Peruvian containerboard demand is mainly driven by agricultural exports, particularly berries that have a high value in the market. These have improved revenues of packaging buyers in the country during recent years.

“The market continues favorable in 2025, with the production of all the commodities we work [with] within expectations, with increased productivity and expanded planted areas,” one source said.

Ángel Manero, Peru’s Minister of Agricultural Development and Irrigation, said during the XXXIV Blueberry International Seminar in Lima on March 12 that the country expects to surpass $3 billion in blueberry export revenues in 2025.

Manero highlighted that Peru has solidified its status as the world’s leading blueberry exporter. The country closed 2024 with over $2.27 billion in sales to major global markets.

“The country has been boosting its productivity, with more land used for plantations and new species. We see that in the long term this will continue to support a lot of export growth from the country,” a second market participant said.

Fastmarkets’ sources noted that, despite global uncertainties around tariffs and a potential trade war, Peru’s industrial sector has bolstered optimism for the corrugated box market. This contribution adds to the positive outlook for the industry moving forward.

In 2022, apparent containerboard consumption in Peru was at 427,000 tonnes. It dropped to 303,000 tonnes in 2023 and reached 310,000 tonnes in 2024, according to Fastmarkets data.

In 2025, consumption is expected to continue recovering, and end at 319,000 tonnes.

According to sources, Peru has an estimated containerboard production capacity of 270,000 tonnes per year. Trupal is the leading supplier, followed by other important market participants such as Carvimsa, Panasa and Papelera del Sur.

Sources said that Argentinean group Cartocor is also investing to increase its presence in Peru. The group currently only focused on corrugated box conversion.

A second source said that many companies are expanding capacity both for paper and corrugated board production, with everyone projecting growth. “But they will all depend on politics and the weather,” they said.

According to this source, the sector has considerable room for automation development in the country. This presents strong growth opportunities, but not necessarily with new paper machines.

As Peru does not produce kraftliner locally, it has also become an important importer of this product in the region. Peru has imported 82,000 tonnes so far in 2025, a 43% surge compared with the year before.

The US was the main supplier with 56,000 tonnes, with minor imports coming from Brazil and Colombia.

“There are always purchases from other countries, maybe not in large volumes, but it’s continuous,” a third source noted.

With the increasing uncertainties around global trade tariffs, sources report that Brazilian suppliers are striving to expand their presence in countries like Peru. This effort highlights their focus on strengthening regional market ties.

“They are still not strong there, but we may see changes with a higher integration of large producers in the region and the changes in the US administration,” a fourth source said.

Peru also uses significant volumes of recycled containerboard paper. It imported 68,500 tonnes in 2024, with supply last year coming from Germany, Colombia and Canada.

Interested in learning more? You can access a free sample of the Fastmarkets Latin American Paper Products Monitor.