EXPORTS OF GOODS FROM COSTA RICA SHOW SUSTAINED GROWTH BY INCREASING 27%.

• Growth is the highest in the last five years in that period (January-August).
• All sectors and export destinations increased.

San José, September 21, 2021. Costa Rica shows a solid trend of recovery of its exports by growing 27% in the accumulated period from January to August of this year 2021, reaching a total of $9,547 million, $2,013 million more than in the same period of 2020.

This is the highest growth in exports of goods in this period in the last five years, since in 2017 the increase was 8%, in 2018 6%, in 2019 1%, in 2020 – the year in which the effects of the pandemic began to be seen – there was a drop of 2% and this 2021 presents an increase of 27%.

At the sector level, all of them show growth, most of them in double digits. Precision and medical equipment grew by 42% and remains Costa Rica’s main export sector with a share of 35%; the agricultural sector, which has been recovering its dynamism, presented an increase of 5% and continues as the second most important sector for the country with a share of 22%. The food industry grew by 25%, the chemical and pharmaceutical industry by 12%, electrical and electronics by 47%, metal-mechanics by 65%, plastics by 28% and rubber by 40%. On the other hand, the livestock and fishing sector, which was still in negative numbers as of the previous month, achieved a growth of 1%.

“A year ago, we began a process of recovery in the export business, which today is already showing signs of consolidation with this overwhelming increase of 27%. We welcome the growth in all sectors, mainly the recovery of livestock and fisheries and the agricultural sector. The latter has shown dynamism in products such as pineapple (+$76 million) and frozen fruits (+$21 million), but also in others such as chayote (+$2.5 million), mango (+$2.3 million), fresh coconut (+$1.2 million), fresh papaya (+$1.1 million) and dried coconut (+$1 million). We remind exporters that we in the Foreign Trade sector are here to support them and facilitate the internationalization process,” said the Minister of Foreign Trade and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foreign Trade Agency of Costa Rica, Andrés Valenciano Yamuni.

Pedro Beirute Prada, General Manager of the Foreign Trade Agency of Costa Rica, added that the diversification of exports and destinations has been key to this recovery in exports. “Looking at Costa Rica’s main export products, we see that they are distributed in several sectors: medical devices (34%), bananas (7%), pineapple (7%), syrups and concentrates for soft drinks (4%), gold coffee (3%), electrical cables (2%), palm oil (2%), fruit juices and concentrates (2%). This shows that as a country we are making efforts to diversify our supply and not depend on one or two export products, and thus reach more markets,” he explained.

Related to the regions of export destination, all of them show growth. North America grew by 28%, Central America by 29%, South America by 56%, the Caribbean by 34%, Europe by 18% and Asia by 28%. It is worth noting that Asia displaced the Caribbean as the fourth largest destination region for Costa Rican exports.

Percentage share by region:

1. North America: 46%

2. Europe: 22% 3.

3. Central America: 20%

4. Asia: 6%

5. Caribbean: 4%

6. South America: 2%.