Costa Rican Exports plummeted in the past 12 months
- Exports went from $9.7 billion in 2008 to $8.4 billion this year
- Food, textiles, computer chips were most affected
Far from showing signs of recovery, the country’s exports maintained a steady decline from February to achieve in the 12 months ending in October its strongest decline: 14%.
The accumulated sales of the 12 months ended last October there was a slump in revenue of $1,362 million.
“If we end (the year) below 15%, in current circumstances, I see very positive,” said Marco Vinicio Ruiz, Minister of Foreign Commerce (Comex).
The goods most affected by lower demand are food (mainly to Central America), textiles and building products steel, PVC and rubber technical, listed Ruiz.
The microprocessors and chipsets from Intel also suffered declines, but these have been declining.
For example, the accumulated sales in May 2008 to April 2009 the multinational sold $1,639 million, which was lower by 27% than that recorded between May 2007 and April 2008 ($ 2,315 million). However in the 12 months ended last October, the sum of exports of the company had a decrease of 9% ($189 million) over the same period to October 2008.
This situation, in view of Ruiz, helps the general decline in exports is not greater.
The US is the country that has fallen on purchases of Costa Rican goods. About 34% of exports go to the US.
Source: La Nacion
