March reported a historical record in national exports by accumulating sales for $710.2 million, surpassing the $614 million reported in February of this year by the Central Reserve Bank (BCR).
Until before this report, it was last month the one with the record of the highest exports figure, but the dynamism of March placed it $96 million above the sales that the country makes abroad.
In addition, this figure also represents an increase of 24%, that is, $136 million more compared to the metrics obtained in the same month during 2021, which totaled $574 million.
In this sense, the BCR pointed out that “exporters benefited from policies to counteract the effects of international price increases, which attenuated the rise in costs of certain inputs, as well as from the increase in the prices of most exported products”.
In accumulated terms at the end of the first quarter of the year, El Salvador sold $1,888 million to its commercial partners, with which it is imposed by $283.5 million to the same period of 2021, which means a growth rate of 17.7%.
The state entity highlighted that coffee was one of the most dynamic export sectors during January, February and March of this year, with accumulated sales of $56.3 million, that is, $22 million more than in the same period of last year, reflecting a 63.9 % increase.
Still within the agribusiness sector, sugar accompanies the aromatic at the top of the items with more exports during the first quarter by selling $69.4 million, which implies $3 million more than what was recorded in the same dates of 2022 and represents an increase of 4.4%.
Meanwhile, the manufacturing industry, including maquila, also remained among the most booming sectors. The BCR reported in the first three months of the year, this sector reported exports for $1,806.1 million, exceeding by $260.2 million to the same period of 2021, with a percentage of 16.8 % increase.
On the other hand, the state bank indicated that 90.9 % of the total exported by El Salvador was destined to nine countries in the first quarter: the United States that bought $734.9 million, Guatemala that acquired $319.5 million, Honduras that accumulated $312.9 million purchases of Salvadoran products, followed by Nicaragua with $134.5 million, Costa Rica with $81.4 million, Mexico with $42.7 million, Panama with $35.1 million, Dominican Republic that acquired $29.8 million and Canada with $25.5
In addition, it reported that the five main exported products were: T-shirts and knitted T-shirts for $216.0 million; sweaters, pullovers and similar that sold $117.6 million; plastic articles for transportation and packaging $80.4 million and electrical capacitors for $67.8 million. This group of products represented 29.6% of total exports during January, February and March 2022.
Regarding imports, the BCR reports an accumulated of $1,608.7 million at the end of the first quarter of this year, higher by $303.3 million, or 23.2%, than that recorded in the same period of 2021.
Source: Diario El Salvador
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