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%.
Due to the effect of climatic phenomena at the beginning of the year, in the first five months of 2018, banana sales abroad amounted to $410 million, 9% less than was reported in the same period in 2017.
According to data from the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (Procomer), a comparison between the period between January and May 2017 and the same in 2018 shows that the value of banana sales abroad fell by 9%, going from $448 million to $410 million.
Costa Rican entrepreneurs are concerned about the impact of the crisis in the neighboring country on food exports, which between 2015 and 2017 grew at an average annual rate of 4%.
According to figures from the Promotora del Comercio Exterior (Procomer), last year Costa Rica's food industryexports amounted to $1.618 billion, which is equivalent to an increase of 4.7% compared to the amount reported in 2016.
The 8% increase in November 2017 was mainly explained by food and precision equipment and medical exports, which grew by 7% and 12%, respectively.
Procomer figures indicate that manufacturing exports grew by 11% and agricultural exports by 4%, while those in the metalworking sector increased by 33% compared to November 2016.
In February of this year, a cluster of craft brewers who intend to start exporting their products to the United States and Central America will be formed.
The cluster made up of manufacturing companies in conjunction with Procomer, can be joined by all companies engaged in the manufacture of craft beer, but they must first meet the requirements for export.
In the last ten years, exports from Costa Rica to countries in the European Union grew from $840 million in 2007, to $1.678 billion in the third quarter of this year.
Medical devices, bananas, pineapples, and coffee are some of the products responsible for most of the growth in exports to European countries in recent years. For example, as of September of this year, Procomer figures indicate that "... the European Continent represented 22% of sales this third quarter, with a total of US $1.753 billion (+ US $146 million). Among the main drivers, were: banana, with exports to Belgium, the United Kingdom and Ukraine; medical devices, which boosted exports to Belgium and the Netherlands; as well as greater exports of pineapples to Portugal and coffee to the Netherlands." See "Costa Rica: Foreign trade figures as of September 2017"
Exports accumulated between January and August of this year grew by 9% compared to the same period in 2016, going from $6.618 million to $7.19 billion.
Procomer statistics indicate that the accumulated amount of $7.19 billion is the highest in the last five years.Exportsmade by companies operating under the free zone regime increased by 13%, while those outside of the special regime increased by 4%.
Lack of electricity and logistics and storage problems at Floridian ports are complicating exports from Central America, especially for perishable goods.
Difficulties faced at ports in Florida and Puerto Rico are affecting the region's exporters, who are looking for alternatives so that their shipments are not affected.
While sales to other regions grew by around 15% between 2012 and 2017, exports to Central American countries show an increase of almost 30% compared to the same period.
Data from Procomer indicates that"...The value of sales by this industry to Central America rose by 28% when comparing the amount accumulated from January to July 2012 with the same period in 2017.Meanwhile, sales to all regions increased by 15%."
In the first half of the year, exports from the agricultural sector represented 27% of total goods sold abroad, followed by medical devices, which accounted for 24%.
Although exports from the agro-industrial sector continue to be those that generate the most foreign exchange for the country, the gap between them and exports of manufactured medical products in the country has declined year after year.
Between July 2016 and June 2017, exports of precision and medical equipment, rubber, agricultural products, and metallurgical products increased by 15%, 8%, 7% and 23%, respectively, compared to the previous 12 months.
The sectors that showed the most notable growth in exports (July 2016 - June 2017 vs. July 2015 - June 2016) were precision and medical equipment, with an increase of US $347 million (+ 14.7%); the agricultural sector, which has continued to improve its performance after unfavorable climatic events in previous periods and showed an increase of US $193 million (+ 7.6%); metalmechanics, which recorded increased sales, of US $72 million (+ 23.1%); the food industry, which sold US $41 million more (+ 4.4%); the electric and electronic sector, which increased by US $34 million (+ 6.4%); rubber which increased by US $19 million (+ 8.5%); and chemical-pharmaceuticals which sold US $15 million more (+ 2.4%).
There only remains a technical visit to be made by Chinese authorities in order to complete the evaluation process and start exporting pineapples to China.
Estimates by the SFE indicate that there are 20 companies interested in exporting pineapples to China.
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