Once again, precision medical equipment, as well as important products of the agricultural sector such as pineapple, frozen fruits, and ornamental plants show very positive trend in the growth of Costa Rica’s exports.
According to the Procomer report, with accumulated to May, there is a 23% growth in the exports of goods accumulated between January and May 2021, going from US$ 4,708 million in the same period of 2020, to US$ 5,771 million this year , which means US$ 1,063 million more than in the first 5 months of the previous year.
The report indicates that in the last 8 months, activities such as the production of precision and medical equipment have become the main export sector in Costa Rica, with a participation of 35% in the total and a growth of 41% in the accumulated to May with respect to the same period of 2020. President Carlos Alvarado highlighted this growth which, for the Government, means a clear recovery of the sector after the depression caused by the pandemic.
The products exported by the medical sector with the highest growth in its exports are: medical devices -the country’s main export item-, with a growth of 50% in this period; needles and catheters, with + 47%; and prostheses for medical use, with +70%. This increase is due to greater demand from markets such as the European Union and China, as well as the incorporation of new production lines.
Manufacturing
In addition, the information indicates that several manufacturing subsectors also showed an upward performance in their exports. Sales abroad of the food industry grew by 20%, those of chemical-pharmaceuticals by 15%, electrical and electronics by 38%, metalworking by 49%, plastic by 28% and rubber by 34%.
Agriculture
On the other hand, in the agricultural sector there are products whose performance shows signs of recovery, such as pineapple (+7%), frozen fruits (+36%) and ornamental plants (+31%). It is worth noting that ornamental plant (+31%) was a subsector severely affected by the crisis last year, so the growth reported this year is very encouraging.
However, the figures show that products such as bananas (-10%), melons (-31%) and coffee (-5%) still do not show clear signs of having started their trend towards recovery. Another sector in a similar situation is livestock and fishing (-5%), as a consequence of a decrease in meat exports to North America and dairy exports to Central America.
