Arequipa’s economy revolves around manufacturing and trade, and these activities made up 18.4 percent and 13.4 percent of the region’s Gross Value Added in 2009, respectively. The text also notes that agriculture and related activities represented 13.2 percent and employed 17.7 percent of the active population.

The INEI "Sistema de Información Distrital para la Gestión Pública – EstaDist" service description explains that users can access "data at the level of blocks, population centers and districts throughout Peru" and view "the main indicators of the 2017 National Censuses of the selected place." It notes that statistics can be consulted by theme, including economic activity, via district-level tabular data. Although the page is procedural, it confirms that INEI provides official economic-activity indicators disaggregated to the district level (including the district of Arequipa).

The INEI service description for consulting national economic censuses states that it "provides information classified by economic activity and by geographic area on the characteristics of economic units" and that users can obtain data "by department, province, district" among other territorial levels. This confirms that INEI’s economic census data, which identifies sectors such as commerce, services, manufacturing, construction and others, is available specifically for districts such as the district (province) of Arequipa.

The Central Reserve Bank branch report for Arequipa describes recent activity by sector: "En enero, los sectores primarios reportaron resultados positivos. El sector agropecuario creció 0,2 por ciento; el sector pesca, 2,9 por ciento; y el sector minería…" and "En enero, el sector manufactura de la región tuvo una expansión de 1,0 por ciento…" It treats agropecuary, fishing, mining, and manufacturing as separate key sectors in monitoring regional economic activity, indicating manufacturing is a significant sector but also highlighting mining and agropecuary as main components.

The cities of Lima, Moquegua, La Libertad, Ica, Arequipa and Piura represent an opportunity for foreign direct investment in the manufacturing sector due to their closeness to potential markets, access to raw materials, availability of skilled labour force, and energy and water supply.

The regional characterization report states: "Las actividades económicas que más se destacan en la región son la minería (37,7 por ciento), otros servicios (15,1 por ciento), manufactura (10,5 por ciento) y comercio (9,3 por ciento), entre otros." (translated: "The economic activities that stand out the most in the region are mining (37.7%), other services (15.1%), manufacturing (10.5%) and commerce (9.3%), among others.") It emphasizes mining as the largest contributor to gross value added, followed by services, manufacturing and commerce as other leading activities.

Peru’s economy is characterized by its reliance on natural resource exports, particularly mining, as well as a growing services sector. In 2022, services accounted for 49.6% of overall GDP, manufacturing 12.4%, other industrial activity 30.9%, and agriculture 7.1%.

The leading employment sectors in Peru have long been agriculture and fishing, mining, and manufacturing, while the services sector was...

The article on Arequipa’s economy notes: "Arequipa tiene una estructura productiva fuertemente sesgada al sector del comercio y servicios, el sector primario de agricultura y minería representan el 29,6 % del PBI, el sector secundario de industria y manufactura el 20,7 % de este y el sector terciario de comercio y servicios el 49,7 %." (translated: "Arequipa has a productive structure strongly biased toward the commerce and services sector; the primary sector of agriculture and mining represents 29.6% of GDP, the secondary sector of industry and manufacturing 20.7%, and the tertiary sector of commerce and services 49.7%.") It also adds that in the capital department (Arequipa city), "la industria, el comercio y la construcción… tienen un rol central en el devenir de la localidad" (industry, commerce and construction have a central role in the city’s development).

The INEI institutional portal describes the organization as "the central body and governing authority of the National Statistics System" responsible for "showing monthly the trend of national economic activity, globally and by sector." This confirms that INEI is the primary official source for statistics on sectors such as commerce, services, manufacturing and construction for Peruvian territories, including the District of Arequipa.

Services account for 59.9% of Peruvian gross domestic product, followed by industry at 32.7% and agriculture at 7.6%. Manufacturing is described as a medium sector tied heavily to mining, fishing, agriculture, construction and textiles.

The structural analysis of the southern macro-region’s economy states for Arequipa: "La especialización interregional… muestra para el caso de Arequipa, una especialización en el comercio y otros servicios, cuestión muy relacionada con la importancia urbana de la ciudad de Arequipa." (translated: "Interregional specialization… shows for Arequipa a specialization in commerce and other services, closely related to the urban importance of the city of Arequipa.") It further notes: "Por su parte, el sector transformación es dinamizado principalmente por la industria manufacturera y la construcción." ("The transformation sector is driven mainly by manufacturing industry and construction.")

The Prezi presentation "ACTIVIDADES ECONÓMICAS EN AREQUIPA" states in Spanish (translated): "The main economic activities that we have in our region Arequipa are agriculture, livestock, fishing, industry and mining." This characterization is for the **region of Arequipa** and identifies primary sectors (agriculture, livestock, fishing) and extractive industry (mining) along with industry broadly, rather than focusing on commerce, services, manufacturing and construction as the main sectors.

The development agenda document for Arequipa explains: "La economía regional se caracteriza por ser primaria–exportadora, ya que su fortaleza se encuentra en la abundancia de recursos naturales." It highlights the importance of mining: "lo que evidencia la importancia que tiene el sector minero en la región" and notes that "la manufactura, junto con otros servicios, son actividades que contribuyeron de manera muy notable" to regional recovery. It lists economic activities affected and later recovering, including "comercio, manufactura, construcción" as relevant sectors, but consistently frames mining and primary exports as central.

The main manufacturing activities are textiles, consumer goods, food processing and fish products. Peru's industrial sector grew by 3.9% in 2024, partially supported by manufacturing.

Peru has a growing economy with strong sectors in mining, agriculture, and fisheries. Peru is characterized by its reliance on natural resource exports, particularly mining, as well as a growing services sector.

Peru is one of South America's leading export economies, supplying minerals, agricultural products, seafood, textiles, and other goods to markets around the world. Mining is a major pillar of the Peruvian economy and remains the country's largest export sector.

The Scribd document on economic activities in Arequipa states: "Los principales sectores económicos en Arequipa son los servicios excluidos de lo público, el transporte y la agricultura." (translated: "The main economic sectors in Arequipa are private services, transport and agriculture.") It then enumerates sectors such as agricultural production, livestock, fishing, forestry, commerce and services, mining and tourism, indicating a broader set of principal sectors beyond commerce, services, manufacturing and construction.

EY’s regional insight piece describes investment opportunities in Arequipa: "Es fundamental impulsar las inversiones y negocios en la región en estos y otros sectores importantes como el textil, infraestructura, energía y construcción." (translated: "It is essential to promote investments and business in the region in these and other important sectors such as textiles, infrastructure, energy and construction.") It underscores construction and infrastructure as significant sectors but in the context of a diversified economy that also includes mining, textiles, and energy.

The PDF "Potencialidades Económicas de Arequipa" describes that "manufacturing and commerce are those that contribute the most to the departmental gross value added, with more than 30% of the total." It adds that, according to 2007 data, "47.6% [of the economically active population] is dedicated to services, 17.8% to extractive activities, 17.3% to commerce and 12.9% to industry." This supports the importance of commerce, services and manufacturing/industry as major sectors for the **department of Arequipa**, but again at a departmental/regional scale rather than specifically the District of Arequipa.

Regional news outlet El Búho, summarizing an INEI note on Arequipa’s economy, reports that in the last quarter of 2023 "the productive activity of Arequipa decreased by 3.2%" and attributes this mainly to "the contraction of mining activities, manufacturing and private investment and local governments in construction." The article further notes that Arequipa’s negative performance was "influenced by mining, construction and telecommunications" and mentions national declines in "manufacturing, telecommunications and construction" as key sectors. This shows that manufacturing and construction are significant tracked sectors in the recent economic performance of Arequipa.

In an interview‑style YouTube video "Situación Económica de Arequipa", an economist explains that in Arequipa "we have various activities; among them the main and I believe the axis and engine of growth in recent years has been the extraction of minerals ... we have mining with 30%, services with almost 28% and manufacturing with almost 11%; then we have others like construction, agriculture that together represent around 13%." He adds that services include activities such as financial services and that mining and services are the principal engines of growth. This description is for the **regional economy of Arequipa**, indicating mining, services, manufacturing and construction among the main components but emphasizing mining and services over commerce.

In a video analysis, the dean of the Colegio de Economistas de Arequipa explains that "uno de los sectores que aporta más es justamente el sector minero" ("one of the sectors that contributes the most is precisely the mining sector") and that agricultural sectors absorb more labor. He also mentions "comercio servicios turísticos" across the provinces and notes that the region "tiene poca industria" with some textile production, indicating mining, agriculture, commerce, services and tourism as key sectors rather than only manufacturing and construction.

The project page "Desarrollo económico en Arequipa" by FPS Navarra describes efforts to improve local economies by strengthening productive chains in specific sectors identified as potential in the zone of intervention: "we are talking about the dairy chain (milk production), organic quinoa production and promotion of rural tourism." These are examples of agriculture/agribusiness and services (tourism) being treated as key economic sectors in parts of the Arequipa region, rather than commerce, manufacturing and construction alone.

This video describes Arequipa as southern Peru’s economic powerhouse and says its economy is diverse, spanning industry, mining, manufacturing, and services.

Background economic knowledge indicates that the economy of the city and province of Arequipa is heavily service-oriented, with commerce, tourism-related services and public/private services dominating employment. Manufacturing and construction are important secondary sectors, but at the regional level mining and agriculture are also core pillars. Thus, for the District of Arequipa, commerce and services are unquestionably main sectors, while manufacturing and construction are significant but not the only main sectors when considering the wider province and region.