In 2021, Nicaraguan exports to China grew by 11.9%, and exports to Russia increased by 208%, translating into a total of 24.5 million dollars, which is equivalent to eight million more than the 16.5 million they represented in 2020. However, in the general panorama, both destinations represent less than 0.7% of Nicaragua’s international sales.
The closeness of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo with Moscow and Beijing (with whom reactivated their relationships in December 2021), has raised expectations because the country can increase the placement of its products in those markets, of 145 million and 1.3 billion consumers, respectively.
“That won’t be that easy,” he told CONFIDENTIAL the president of the Association of Producers and Exporters of Nicaragua (APEN), Guillermo Jacoby, considering that Nicaraguan businessmen will first have to learn the Russian and Chinese idiosyncrasies, in addition to finding ways to serve both economies.
“China is a huge market, almost like the United States, but to be able to exploit it you have to know it, because its customs for doing business are different, so it will take us some time to learn,” he explained.
The also professor explained that the experts suggest exporting to China “through Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, who know how to deal with the Chinese and with the West. It is true that this would have an additional cost, but it is better to pay that cost than not sell anything, ”he valued.
Although the cultural differences with Russia are not as great as those with China, Jacoby admits that “we don’t have much experience exporting to Russia either”, so there will also be a learning curve to overcome.
“The Chinese – and also the Russians – have to come to teach us what they consume. If they invest in our country to export to their own, better! ”, He exclaimed.
It is difficult to compare both economies, since there are nine times more Chinese than Russians; that the Russian GDP is ten times smaller than the Chinese (14.86 against 1.48 billion dollars), although the per capita is very similar: 10,511 dollars per Chinese, versus 10,115 dollars per Russian.
“They are big markets”, explains Jacoby, “but we haven’t exploited them properly, just like South America and Africa. We have concentrated on North and Central America, and partially Europe. All of our exports to the rest of the world are very small.”
fringe customers
Nicaraguan exports to Russia grew 2.1 times in 2021, going from 6.2 to 13.0 million dollars, mainly thanks to a growth of 266.7% in terms of volume, going from 3.46 to 9.24 million kilos exported.
In percentage terms, the 6.2 million dollars received in 2020 represented 0.21% of Nicaragua’s total exports in that year, while the 13.0 million in 2021 were 0.36% of the sales of the year that just ended.
Peanuts (8.6 million dollars) and coffee (4.2 million), are the main export products that are sent to the Russian market, complemented by smaller amounts in textiles, tobacco, rum, pharmaceutical products, paper waste, cocoa, vinegar. , plastics and scrap, among others.
Exports to China have been more stable: in 2020, the country sent merchandise for 10.3 million dollars to the Asian nation (0.35% of the total exported by Nicaragua in that year). In 2021, revenues grew 11.9%, to close at 11.5 million dollars, although that only represented 0.32% of the products exported by the country.
Last year, the Russian market bought us 5.2 million dollars worth of oils and fats; 2.6 million in sawn wood; 1.9 million in mineral products, and 1.3 million in bovine hides and skins, in addition to marginal amounts of coffee, products of vegetable origin, rum, cigars, vinegar and textiles.
