According to figures provided by the Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN), the United States continues to position itself as Nicaragua’s main trading partner. During the period from January to June 2023, the Central American country received 2 thousand 745 million dollars in foreign currency for exports sent to North American territory.
The president of the BCN, Ovidio Reyes, explained that in the first half of this year, the United States bought a total of 2,045 million dollars from Nicaragua for non-agricultural goods and another 700 million dollars for agricultural products. This consolidates the US market as the main buyer of Nicaraguan products.
In the statistics of the financial entity, where it details the country’s main trading partners, none of Ortega’s closest political partners such as Russia, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela appear. Only China appears and with minimal representation in the purchase of Nicaraguan products.
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In this sense, there is a marked disparity in exports to China compared to the United States. Despite the affirmation of the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega about the prosperous commercial relationship with the Asian giant, total exports to that country only reached 40 million dollars in the first semester. Of that amount, 29 million correspond to non-agricultural goods, while another 11 million refer to agricultural products.
From January to June 2023, the main destinations for exports of Nicaraguan non-agricultural goods were: USA with 2,045 million dollars; Central America662 million dollars; Mexico499 million dollars; European Union229 million dollars; Canada143 million dollars; United Kingdom36 million dollars; Swiss33 million dollars; South Korea32 million dollars; China, 29 million dollars; and chinese taipei; 25 million dollars.
Regarding agricultural exports, Nicaragua received USA700 million dollars; Central America433 million dollars; European Union213 million dollars; Mexico112 million dollars; Canada50 million dollars; reunited united32 million dollars; South Korea30 million dollars; Peru17 million dollars; chinese taipei16 million dollars; Mauritania14 million dollars; Japan.12 million dollars; Dominican Republic, 11 million dollars; and China11 million dollars.
The head of the BCN highlighted that exports of agricultural products rose by 1,735.1 million dollars, which represents a growth of 3.8 percent compared to the previous period.
“In the general regime, 1,475 million dollars were obtained in agricultural products for a growth of 4.3 percent, and in free zones, 260.1 million dollars were obtained for a growth of 1.6 percent,” said Ovidio Reyes.
«We observe that the prices of export products, so far in 2023, many continue to grow, such as tobacco cigars and cigarillos, cane sugar, cheese, raw oil, uncooked peanuts, beans red, cane molasses, oranges, these products are growing… So we see exports are going positive and that the boost is maintained,” he added.
