Bananas and pineapples top Costa Rica’s exports in 2020

The National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC) released a preliminary report showing that bananas and pineapples together represented 16.2 percent of the total value exported by Cost Rica during 2020, according to Nacion, a Costa Rican reporting agency.

The country exported $1.118 billion in bananas, which represented 8.93 percent of the value exports, while pineapples totaled $910 million, representing 7.27 percent of the value exports.

INEC’s report shows the top ten export products accounted for 50 percent of the total value during the period, of which the U.S., the Netherlands, and Guatemala were the main destinations.

A researcher at INEC, Ana Mercedes Umaña, pointed out that preliminary figures showed a 2.04 percent increase in exports in 2020, while imports showed a decrease of 9.58 percent.

Costa Rica’s trade balance represented a deficit of $3.344 billion in 2020, lower than the $5.276 billion corresponding to 2019.