For 2026, the Instituto Peruano de Economía (IPE) projects an unprecedented scenario: exports of illegally sourced gold could surpass legal exports for the very first time. The report underscores the steady rise of informal and illegal mining in the country, which for years has operated alongside—and increasingly ahead of—formal production.
This comes at a time when international gold prices remain at historically high levels, providing an added incentive for extraction and commercialization outside regulated channels. For the formal industry, supply chain traceability is no longer just a marketing differentiator, but an essential condition for accessing increasingly demanding international markets.
This outlook underscores the critical importance of origin verification, documentation, and traceability mechanisms within formal commercialization supply chains.
