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.
Last year, Panama reported purchases abroad for $13.233 million, recording a 4% increase over 2017, a rise explained by purchases of consumer goods.
The most recent report of the General Comptroller of the Republic details that between 2017 and 2018 purchases abroad increased by $509 million, going from $12.724 million to $13.233 million.
Because of the decline in the international price of sugar in recent years, agricultural businessmen in Guatemala have decided to migrate to more profitable crops, such as bananas and African palm.
Last year, Guatemalan banana exports totaled $815 million, 4% more than the $782 million reported in 2017, a rise that is partly caused by the increase in the cultivated area in the country.
In 2018, sales abroad totaled $11 billion, recording a minimum 0.3% increase compared to 2017, a performance attributed to international market factors.
After registering a 5% increase between 2016 and 2017, in 2018 exports did not report significant year-on-year increases, because international prices of some agricultural products are not going through their best.
Guatemalan authorities announced that negotiations with the South American country are practically finished, so that the entry into force of the agreement would soon be finalized.
Because of a series of disputes generated by the imposition of tariffs on Guatemalan sugar, the entry into force of the trade agreement, which had been signed by both countries in December 2011, was postponed.
In Guatemala, the business sector has already begun to analyze the market opportunities that will arise after the Salvadoran government decided to cancel the FTA with Taiwan.
The decision taken by the Sánchez Cerén administration in December last year will be implemented as of March 15, when the Free Trade Agreement between Taiwan and El Salvador will expire.
The year-on-year fall of 3.5% reported in exports up to January 2019, results from the contraction of coffee, sugar, peanut and fish sales.
Statistics from the Center for Export Procedures (Cetrex) indicate that between January 2018 and the same month in 2019, the country's foreign sales decreased by $8.5 million, going from $239.5 million to $231 million.
After recording a 10% increase between 2016 and 2017, last year the movement of maritime cargo in Panama grew just 2% over the previous year.
The most recent figures of the General Comptroller of the Republic detail that during 2018 the movement of containers in the National Port System totaled 7 million TEUs, 1.7% more than the 6.89 million TEUs reported in 2017.
Guatemalan companies are invited to participate in the third commercial and academic mission scheduled to take place in San Francisco, United States, from June 3 to 5.
The Guatemalan-American Chamber of Commerce is the institution organizing the mission, which aims to acquire new knowledge and establish contacts with companies such as Google, Uber, Cisco and Microsoft, among others.
In 2018, foreign sales totaled $5.904 million, 3% more than in 2017, a rise that was mainly explained by exports from the manufacturing sector.
The manufacturing industry, which includes maquila goods, reached exports of 5.727.4 million at the end of 2018, with a 97% share of total exports and a 2.8% growth.
The increase in Costa Rican exports during 2018 was mainly due to the performance of the 187 companies in the free zone, in contrast to the almost zero growth reported by companies exporting under the traditional scheme.
Figures from the Foreign Trade Promoter of Costa Rica (Procomer) detail that last year Costa Rica's exports totaled $11.312 million, 6% more than that recorded 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.
Because of the decrease in purchases of capital goods, between January and November 2018 the country registered imports of $4.468 million, 14% less than in the same period of 2017.
The report of the Central Bank of Nicaragua states that "...
Between January and November 2018, the trade balance recorded a deficit of $5.540 million, 18% more than the $4.683 million recorded in the same period of 2017.
The Central Bank of Honduras reported that "... At the end of November 2018, the trade balance recorded a deficit of US$5,540.4 million, higher by US$857.5 million than that recorded in the same period of the previous year. This result is based mainly on the 8.1% increase in imports; basically because of greater purchases of raw materials and capital goods for industry and fuels and, to a lesser extent, the 3.2% reduction in exports -particularly- agro-industrial exports, mainly as a consequence of low international prices.
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