Costa Rican goods exports close 2020 with a historic record, despite the pandemic

• The + 16% increase in exports in December supported the sector’s recovery.
• Diversification in exports allowed reaching a record.
• Precision equipment and medical, agricultural, food and pharmaceutical chemical sectors closed the year with positive numbers.

San José, January 21, 2021. Once again, the export sector of Costa Rica demonstrates its resilience in the face of the challenges of the pandemic by closing 2020 with a growth of + 1.9% in exports of goods, which reaches a historical record of $ 11,683 million, $ 202 million more than exported in 2019.

The four main sectors closed the year positively: precision and medical equipment exported + 8% and represented 34% of the total exported goods, the agricultural sector grew + 2% and had a 24% share in 2020, the food industry achieved a performance of + 7% and with a representation of 14%, while the pharmaceutical chemical sector had an increase of + 3% and covered 6% of exports.

At the quarterly level and compared to 2019, the behavior of exports marked the arrival and progress of the global crisis, as well as the country’s export capacity. In the first quarter there was a positive start of + 9%, in the second quarter the effects of the pandemic on exports were evidenced by decreasing -12%, in the third quarter there was a growth of + 1% and they began to see signs of recovery; and, finally, in the fourth quarter the recovery was consolidated by growing by + 10%.

“2020 was a very challenging year that negatively affected many sectors of the country and the world, it was a year that tested people’s ability to innovate and reinvent themselves. Despite the pandemic, the closure of borders and other barriers, the export sector demonstrated a high capacity for resilience, reinforced by good practices in the country on issues such as diversification of destinations, customers, means of transport and innovation in sales channels. We thank the export sector for the great work carried out last year, we reiterate that in the foreign trade sector they have an ally to continue consolidating their presence in international markets ”, stated the Minister of Foreign Trade and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foreign Trade Agency of Costa Rica , Andrés Valenciano.

For his part, Pedro Beirute, General Manager of the Promoter, highlighted the valuable contribution of the export sector to the country and how significant this growth is. “This sector represents 34% of GDP and employs more than a million people, which is why this recovery is really important at the end of 2020. According to projections of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the world’s goods exports will close 2020 with a drop of -9.2%, while in Costa Rica we close with positive numbers. This is not only a message of optimism and confidence for the world, but for the same sector that has demonstrated, once again, robustness, versatility and resilience”.
Beirute added that the fourth quarter of 2020 confirmed the growing trend of exports, with growth of + 16% in December, the historical maximum in the last five years, a behavior that is expected to continue in 2021.

At the market level, goods exports had a positive performance in Asia (+ 6%) explained by higher shipments of sugar, needles and catheters, and pork; North America (+ 5%) for medical devices, palm oil, and infusion and transfusion sets; Europe (+ 2%) for medical devices, bananas and pineapple; and in South America (+ 15%) for syrups for drinks, batteries, and devices for stomata. However, Central America closed the year with a drop of -5% due to lower shipments of glass containers and fertilizers; and the Caribbean with -5% for glass containers and beverage preparations.

Exports of services to the third quarter
The services sector has not been immune to the pandemic and in the third quarter of 2020 it had a decrease of -24%, mainly due to the fall in the travel category. As of September of the previous year, the sector exported $ 5,367 million, which is equivalent to $ 1,734 million less than in the same period of 2019.

The knowledge-intensive subsectors such as business services and informatics, information and telecommunications grew by + $ 171 million and + $ 40 million, respectively. This performance cushions the drop in travel and transportation.