21 June 2021
• Important products of the agricultural sector such as pineapple, frozen fruits and ornamental plants show very positive behavior.
• Precision and medical equipment is consolidated as the main export sector.
San José, June 21, 2021. Costa Rica shows a clear trend towards the recovery of the dynamism of its export sector, presenting a 23% growth in exports of goods accumulated between January and May 2021, going from $ 4,708 million in the same period of 2020, to $ 5,771 million this year, which means $ 1,063 million more than in the first five months of the previous year.
Exports of goods have shown a positive growth trend during the last eight months and several sectors have shown a consistent performance, despite the pandemic. This is the case of precision and medical equipment, the main export sector in Costa Rica, with a participation of 35% in the total and a growth of 41% in the accumulated to May compared to the same period of 2020.
The products exported by this sector with the highest growth in its exports are: medical devices -the country’s main export item-, with a growth of 50% in this period; needles and catheters, with + 47%; and prostheses for medical use, with + 70%. This increase is due to greater demand from markets such as the European Union and China, as well as the incorporation of new production lines.
Several manufacturing subsectors also showed an upward performance in their exports. Sales abroad of the food industry grew by 20%, those of chemical-pharmaceuticals by 15%, electrical and electronics by 38%, metalworking by 49%, plastic by 28% and rubber by 34%.
On the other hand, in the agricultural sector there are products whose performance shows signs of recovery, such as pineapple (+7%), frozen fruits (+36%) and ornamental plants (+31%). It is worth noting that ornamental plants (+31%) was a subsector severely affected by the crisis last year, so the growth reported this year is very encouraging. However, the figures show that products such as banana * (-10%), melon (-31%) and coffee (-5%) still do not show clear signs of having started their trend towards recovery. Another sector in a similar situation is that of livestock and fishing (-5%), as a consequence of a decrease in meat exports to North America and dairy exports to Central America.
For the Minister of Foreign Trade and President of the Board of Directors of the Foreign Trade Agency, Andrés Valenciano, the combination of the diversity of the destination markets and the exportable offer, as well as the innovation of the export sector, has been the key to moving forward and show the world that Costa Rica has the ability to continue being a successful exporter of quality products.
“Having a presence in more than 130 countries with an offer of more than 4,000 products, many of them with international certifications that support them, has been the country’s letter of introduction before and during this time of pandemic. Without a doubt, we are going to continue working from the Foreign Trade sector so that these numbers continue to grow and that more markets in the world know why a small country like Costa Rica continues to conquer the world,” said Valenciano.
Likewise, Pedro Beirute, General Manager of the Foreign Trade Agency, added that, although the export sector still presents challenges, such as the case of livestock and fishing, significant efforts are being made to reverse the result and promote the trend towards recovery, in a way that that soon all sectors can regain dynamism.
“The export promotion strategy that we have been developing is oriented towards a purpose, which is to bring prosperity to people and the planet. From that point of view, we work on programs that allow us to meet this objective. For this reason, we have a firm commitment to the export sector to continue promoting opportunities to bring well-being to all”, added Beirute.
At the market level, our sales to all destination regions have grown again: North America by + 24%, thanks to more shipments of products such as medical devices, tires and sugar; Central America + 25% and the Caribbean + 36%, for syrups for soft drinks, electric cables and iron bars; South America + 44%, by syrups for soft drinks and preparations for beverages; Europe + 16%, for medical devices, pineapple and bananas; and Asia + 19%, for medical devices and wood.
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