Central America is the world's ninth largest fruit exporter

Central America is the world's ninth largest fruit exporter, with shipments worth 3,528.8 billion dollars in 2015, which is 3.3% of the global market share.

The Central American region stands as the second largest exporter of bananas and melons, behind Ecuador and Spain, and leads as a global exporter of pineapples. These three products alone, which constitute about 97% of the total fruit exports, generated 3,425.9 million dollars in 2015.

In its "Analysis of the regional competitiveness in the fruit market", the Secretariat of Central American Economic Integration (SIECA) reported that these figures place the region above countries with a greater availability of acreage and human and technological resources, such as Brazil, India, Colombia or Argentina, among others.

According to the agency, Costa Rica accounted for 49.7% of the exports recorded, with 1,750.1 million dollars, followed by Guatemala, with 28.7% (1,010.8 million dollars); Honduras, with 16.9% (593.8 million dollars); Panama, with 4% (140.3 million dollars); Nicaragua, with 0.7% and El Salvador, with 0.1%.

Fruit exports accounted for 12.6% of the total shipments, equivalent to 3,522.1 million dollars, noting an average annual variation of 5% over the last five years.

The products with the highest growth rate in fruit exports are, in order: mandarins (52.1%), papayas (28.4%) and strawberries (11.1%). A reduction was observed in the exports of grapefruit (-85.1%), nuts (-43.1%), watermelons (-7.8%), lemons (-5.5%), oranges (-5.1%) and coconuts (-4.3%).

The potential for diversification is considerable and global demand is growing in sectors in which Central America has not yet managed to secure a competitive position. A comparative analysis revealed that Central America has an export specialization in a total of 10 fruits, mostly pineapples, melons and bananas, but also papayas, watermelons, nuts, grapefruit, raspberries, blackberries, oranges and mandarins.

The sector's dynamism to date is the result of a number of factors, such as preferential access of Central American fruit to major markets in the United States and Europe, the creation of policies to support the agricultural export sector in some countries and greater openness to trade in the region.