For Costa Rican businessmen, the neighboring country is a very important market, since it is dedicated to logistics, trade and financial intermediation, and demands different types of goods produced by Costa Rica.
In 2018 Costa Rican exports to the Panamanian market totaled $606 million, which positioned Panama as the fourth most important destination for foreign sales, surpassed only by the United States, Holland and Belgium.
Explained by better promotional efforts, the proportion of Costa Rican SMEs that export to Asian, South American and Caribbean countries continues to grow.
According to the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (Procomer), last year 86% of companies that sold goods in South America were SMEs, in the case of Asia the proportion reached 81% and for the Caribbean it was 80%.
In 2013 the export supply of the region in the international market was focused on integrated electronic circuits, coffee, bananas, sugarcane and medical devices.
From a report by the Secretariat of Central American Economic Integration (SIEC):
Diversification of exports is above the thresholds of the largest Latin American exporting economies.
The Inter-American Development Bank has launched a new version of the Intrade website with information on tariffs and trade agreements for companies and countries seeking new markets for their exports.
A statement from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) reads:
IDB launches new version of Intrade, the most complete business information system in the region.
The Chilean market, current recipient of some Costa Rican products, could be better utilized by exporters.
Chile is already one of Costa Rica’s trading partners, selling the country juices, fruit concentrates, food preparations and cassava (yuka).
This list of products could be expanded if exporters take advantage of the opportunity and increase the diversification of exportable products, which according to a study by the Costa Rica Promoter of International Trade of (Procomer), is a possibility.
In the last twenty years the country increased its exports from 8 to 131 markets and from 149 to 4.075 products.
There has also been an increase in exporting companies from 237 to 3.979, according to the Guatemalan Association of Exporters.
“Fanny D. Estrada, Director of Competitiveness and Market Access of Agexport, said that penetration in other markets originated with the approval in 1989 of the Law on Incentives for Export Activity, which allowed the arrival of companies which already had foreign markets for their products,” reported Sigloxxi.com.
If we take into consideration which economies fared better in the crisis, we should seek trade partners in Asia and not in Europe.
Manuel Hinds analyzed El Salvador’s economy and exports, and his findings can be applied to the entire region. Costa Rica has already started the essential road to diversify its exports markets by closing Free Trade Agreements with China and Singapore.