Honduras third biggest seller of fruit, Central America and Panama
According to a study conducted by the Central American Economic Integration Secretariat (SIEC), Honduras ranks third among six countries evaluated.
Regional fruit exports in 2015 amounted to $3,528.8 million dollars, i.e. 3.8% of the world trade.
Costa Rica exported $1,753.8 million dollars and was followed by Guatemala with $1,102.8 million.
Honduras ranked third with $596.4 million dollars, and was followed by Panama with $141.1 million, Nicaragua with $24.7 million, and El Salvador with $3.5 million dollars, according to the study of Sieca.
Fruits
Banana, melon and pineapple dominate the list of products exported to Central America and Panama.
The study included avocados, oranges, grapefruit, lemon, mandarin, guavas, mangoes, watermelons, papaya, and strawberries, among other fruits.
In the case of Costa Rica, bananas account for 47.7% of their fruit exports, pineapple for 47%, and melons and watermelons for 4.7%.
In Guatemala, bananas account for 80.2% of their fruit exports and melons for 16.1%.
In Honduras, banana exports account for 85.2%, melons for 8.9%, and pineapple for 4.3%.
Panama mainly exports bananas (71.1%), pineapple (15.6%) and watermelon (10.1%).
Nicaragua mainly exports bananas (50.5%), oranges (21.5%), and guavas and mangoes (17.6%). In El Salvador, fruit exports are led by bananas with 71.1%, lemons with 17.5% and coconuts with 10.1%.
Bananas
Banana exports are the region's main fruit exports, as they accounted for 61.9% of total external sales in 2015.
Central America is the second largest banana exporter after Ecuador.
Costa Rica and Guatemala are the major regional suppliers with 36.9% and 35.8% of total exports, respectively, followed by Honduras with 22.3% and Panama with 4.4%.
However, bananas have a greater contribution to the export of fruits in relation to other countries.
According to the Central Bank of Honduras (BCH) banana exports amounted to $505 million dollars in 2015.
The main market for Honduran bananas is the US, which absorbs 95.6% of their export volume.
Last year, Honduras exported 35.2 million boxes of 40 pounds, 33.7 million of which were exported to the US. The remaining 1.5 million boxes were exported to Central America, according to the Central Bank.
Fruits exports accounted for 80% of the exports made by the agricultural sector of Honduras.
Source: elheraldo.hn