From January to September 2016 Costa Rica’s exports increased 7,458 million dollars, which is 7% higher than the figures for the same period last year.
The good news is consolidated in the free trade zone regime, because according to Minister of Foreign Trade, Alexander Mora, without this sector the foreign sales are expected to grow just 2 percent.
Exports of active and definitive (local companies) improvement increased from 3900 million to 3966 million.
However, the representatives of the Chamber of Exporters of Costa Rica (Cadexco) are still concerned and asked actions to improve their competitiveness because exports of the definitive regime are not dynamic enough.
Sales in free trade zones amounted to 3,491 million in the three quarters of 2016, a figure that was 13.7% higher than the one recorded in 2015 and covered the 46.8% of the total exports.
The most popular products are medical devices, whose sales increased 19.5%, whereas banana and pineapple sales increased 17.1% and 6.1% respectively. Fruit juices and concentrates sales increased in 42.9 million and the figures for electronic components for microprocessors grew 175.9 million colones.