Import Statistics for Fruit Juice in Costa Rica

Between 2012 and 2014, Costa Rica imported $5.8m from Korea and the principal product was non alcoholic drinks. In 2020, we imported $11m worth of fruit juice from around the world.

One thing related to imports in Costa Rica that you need to understand is that we have an FTA with the United States with other countries including Mexico, Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. With this agreement, the free trading zone amplies and also the product range to import and export. It is also the reason why the commercial rules are harmonic and peaceful. 

Some of these products don’t pay or pay less taxes when they get into the different countries that are part of the agreement depending on what they are because every government wants to be flexible in this area so we can all benefit from the Free Trading Agreement. 

Fruit Exportations in Costa Rica

We increased exportations by 26% from 2020 to 2021. PROCOMER states that this is the highest amount that we have collected in 5 years ($12.088m). Agriculture products represent around 20% of that total, only surpassed by medical equipment. 

We export mostly coffee but also pineapple, cantaloupe, rambutan, watermelon, banana, mango, papaya, tubers and squash. Costa Rica has the third place in the world as a fruit exporter. According to OECD studies, 86% of pineapples in Europe come from Costa Rica and 70% of bananas come from Ecuador, Colombia and Costa Rica. This means that one third of food industry exportations in Costa Rica are for tropical fruits. 

In 2017, the United States imported 75% of fruits and vegetables from Mexico, Peru, Guatemala and Costa Rica and since eating healthy tendencies are more and more popular, the numbers are going to keep on the rising!

This is great news for Costa Rica because agriculture is a very important activity in the rural parts of the country and also because the population in the city have easy and cheap access to fresh products in the local farmer´s fairs organized in towns either weekly or biweekly.

There has been investment as well for agriculture in Costa Rica to be eco friendly so that the crops have the best quality without harming the environment. Also, banks are committed to provide loans for improvements for farmers and ranchers in equipment, terrains, tools and everything they need to make it work properly with efficiency and productivity.