During the first two months of the year, Costa Rican exports to countries in the region totaled $393 million, 3% less than what was reported for the same period in 2018.
According to data from the Promotora del Comercio Exterior (Procomer), in the first two months of 2019 Costa Rica's exports increased by 3.2% over the first two months of 2018, going from $1.743 million to $1.800 million.
In the third quarter of 2018, Central American exports totaled $23,702 million, reporting an increase of less than 1% compared to the same period in 2017, because of the lower dynamism of sales from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
According to the Central American Trade Monitor for the Third Quarter 2018, prepared by the Secretariat of Central American Economic Integration (SIECA), imports of goods in the region totaled $54,665 million from July to September last year, recording a 6.5% increase over the same period in 2017.
Because of the performance of the manufacturing sector, last year the country reported $11.312 million in foreign sales, 6% more than in 2017.
The latest report from Costa Rica's Foreign Trade Promoter (Procomer), details that last year exports of precision and medical equipment represented 29% of total sales and recorded an 18% increase compared to what was reported in 2017.
Based on sales of medical and precision equipment, between January and October of this year the country reported $8.908 million in exports, 7% more than in the same period in 2017.
According to the Foreign Trade Promoter of Costa Rica (Procomer), in the first ten months of the year, medical equipment and precision exports represented 29% of total sales and registered an 18% increase compared to what was reported in the same period in 2017.
Petroleum products, iron and steel, food and pharmaceutical products, headed last year's purchases from companies in the South American nation from Central American countries.
Figures from the Central American-Ecuador Trade Information System complied by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAPHIC caption = "Click to interact with the graph"]
Last year, mineral fuels, plastic articles and food led the commercial exchange between Peruvian and Central American companies.
Figures from the Central American-Peru Trade Information System complied by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAPHIC caption = "Click to interact with the graph"]
Plastic articles, pharmaceutical products and food preparations last year led the commercial exchange between companies from the Caribbean nation and Central American countries.
Figures from the information system of Commerce between Central America and the Dominican Republic, compiled by the Trade Intelligence Area of CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with graphic"]
Due to the performance of the manufacturing sector, from January to September of this year the country reported $8.473 million in foreign sales, 6% more than that recorded in the same period of 2017.
According to figures from the Foreign Trade Promoter of Costa Rica (Procomer), in the first nine months of the year exports of precision and medical equipment represented 28% of total sales, and registered an increase of 14% compared to what was reported in the same period in 2017.
Because of sales of medical and precision equipment, exports between January and August 2018 increased by 173% compared to the same period in 2015.
According to figures from the Foreign Trade Promoter (Procomer), in the first eight months of 2015 the sales of the Central American nation to Japan totaled $59 million, a figure that has practically tripled, as reported in the same period of this year, when exports reached $162 million.
Trade in goods and services between the countries of the region amounted to $4.792 billion during the second quarter of the year, 3% more than in the same period of 2017.
Central America's total exports reached USD 16,299.7 million in the second quarter of 2018 and increased by 1.7% over the same period last year. 29.4% of exports went to the Central American market, while the remaining 70.6% went to third markets.
From January to July 2018, sales abroad from free zones in Costa Rica grew by 8%, well below the 12% increase registered in the first seven months of 2017.
According to data from the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (Procomer) between the first seven months of 2016 and the same period in 2017, exports of products in free zones went from $2.874 billion to $3.208 billion, representing an increase of 11.6%.
In the first semester, sales of goods abroad totaled $5.718 billion, registering an increase of 6% with respect to the same period in 2017.
According to the latest report by the Ministry of Foreign Trade, during the first half of the five year period from 2014 to 2018, the country registered an average increase of 5% in exports of goods.
Due to the crisis affecting Nicaragua and paralysis of construction in Panama between April and May, the IMF has reduced the expectation of economic growth for the Central American region from 4% to 3.3%.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut growth forecasts for the Central American economy, due to the uncertainty caused by the situation in Nicaragua and its effect on the region's economic activity, and the impact of the construction strike in Panama, which has halted works on 260 projects nationwide for the last 30 days.
During the first five months of the year the country sold abroad for $4.719 billion worth of goods, which is equivalent to an increase of 6.4% over the same period in 2017.
According to the figures of the Foreign Trade Promoter (Procomer), from January to May, exports from Costa Rica to the other countries in the Central American region totaled $1.049 billion, 9% more than the $959 million registered in the same period in 2017.
In the first quarter of the year, the country recorded exports of $2.810 billion and imports of $4.012 billion.
The National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica reported that in the first three months of the year, the main export products were pineapple, bananas, medical devices and prosthetic devices, with sums of $210 million, $199 million, $192 million and $155 million, respectively.