That dollar amount results from a 57.8% increase compared to $14.3 billion five years earlier in 2021.
Year over year, the value of Costa Rica’s exported products accelerated by 13.9% from $19.9 billion during 2024.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2025, the Costa Rican colón depreciated by -23.3% against the US dollar since 2021 and weakened by -2.3% from 2024 to 2025. Costa Rica’s weaker currency makes its exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers starting from American currency.
Largest Customers for Costa Rican Exports
The latest available country-specific data shows that 85.5% of products exported from Costa Rica was bought by importers in: United States of America (47.8% of the Costa Rican total), Netherlands (9.8%), Belgium (4.8%), Guatemala (4.6%), Nicaragua (3.6%), Honduras (3%), Panama (2.7%), El Salvador (2.4%), mainland China (2%), Japan (1.8%), Spain (1.6%) and Dominican Republic (1.5%).
From a continental perspective, 49.8% of Costa Rica’s exports by value was delivered to North American countries while 21.11% was sold to importers in Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean. Costa Rica shipped another 21.09% worth of goods to buyers in Europe.
Smaller percentages went to customers in Asia (7.4%), Africa (0.4%) then Oceania (0.2%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
Given Costa Rica’s population of 5.4 million people, its total US$22.6 billion in 2025 exports translates to roughly $4,200 for every resident in the Central American country. That per-capita amount exceeds the average $3,700 for one year earlier.
Costa Rica’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Costa Rican global shipments during 2025. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Costa Rica.
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: US$11 billion (48.4% of total exports)
- Fruits, nuts: $2.7 billion (11.9%)
- Miscellaneous food preparations: $1.2 billion (5.1%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $953.8 million (4.2%)
- Pharmaceuticals: $554.6 million (2.4%)
- Vegetable/fruit/nut preparations: $548.2 million (2.4%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $517.6 million (2.3%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $482.5 million (2.1%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: $332.4 million (1.5%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $331.1 million (1.5%)
Costa Rica’s top 10 export product categories generated over four-fifths (81.8%) of the value of total Costa Rican shipments.
Coffee, tea and spices represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 35.4% from 2024 to 2025.
In second place for improving export sales were optical, technical and medical apparatus via a 25.2% advance.
Costa Rica’s shipments of pharmaceuticals posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 22.6%.
The leading decliner among Costa Rica’s top 10 export categories was plastics, including materials and items made from plastics, thanks to a -4.8% drop year over year.
At the more detailed Harmonized Tariff System code level, in 2025 Costa Rica’s most valuable exported products were electro-medical equipment including x-ray machines (39.9% of the Costa Rican total), orthopedic appliances (7.1%), dates, figs, pineapples, mangoes, avocadoes and guavas (6%), bananas and plantains (4.8%), miscellaneous food preparations (4.2%), coffee (2.1%), insulated wire or cable (1.5%), fruit or vegetable juices (1.4%), blood fractions (1.2%) then palm oil (1.1%).
Products Driving Largest Trade Surpluses for Costa Rica
The following types of Costa Rican product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: US$9.4 billion (Up by 26% since 2024)
- Fruits, nuts: $2.5 billion (Down by -4.4%)
- Miscellaneous food preparations: $829.3 million (Up by 3.2%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $431.3 million (Up by 36.6%)
- Vegetable/fruit/nut preparations: $323.3 million (Up by 25.3%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $252.3 million (Up by 21.5%)
- Vegetables: $176.9 million (Up by 7.8%)
- Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $115.4 million (Down by -7.6%)
- Gems, precious metals: $84.8 million (Up by 760.5%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: $48.7 million (Down by -6%)
Historically Costa Rica has highly positive net exports in the international trade of medical, surgical, dental or veterinary instruments, orthopedic appliances and similar equipment. In turn, these cashflows indicate Costa Rica’s strong competitive advantages under the optical, technical and medical apparatus category.
Products Causing Worst Trade Deficits for Costa Rica
Costa Rica incurred an overall -US$2.5 billion trade deficit for 2025, reducing by -34.8% from the -$3.8 billion deficit one year earlier in 2024.
Below are exports from Costa Rica that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Costa Rica’s goods trail Costa Rican importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$2.2 billion (Down by -12.3% since 2024)
- Vehicles: -$2.1 billion (Down by -3.6%)
- Machinery including computers: -$2 billion (Up by 6.2%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$1.5 billion (Up by 1.1%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$1.3 billion (Up by 10%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$852.5 million (Up by 27.3%)
- Paper, paper items: -$669.3 million (Up by 3.7%)
- Iron, steel: -$642.8 million (Up by 10.3%)
- Cereals: -$519.7 million (Down by -1.6%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$366.3 million (Up by 6.7%)
Costa Rica has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits particularly for refined petroleum oils, petroleum gases, and petroleum coke or residues under the mineral fuels including oil product category.
Costa Rican Export Companies
Not one Costa Rican corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia does list some exporters based in Costa Rica. Selected examples are shown below.
- Café Britt (coffee)
- Cerveceria Costa Rica (brewery)
- Dos Pinos (dairy products)
- Florida Ice and Farm Company (brewery, food processor)
- Nature Air (airliner)
- Ujarrás (food)
In macroeconomic terms, Costa Rica’s total exported goods represent 13.4% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2025 ($169 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 13.4% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2025 compares to 12.5% for 2024. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Costa Rica’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Costa Rica’s unemployment rate averaged 7.5% for 2025, up from an average 6.878% in 2024 according to International Monetary Fund statistics.
Domestically, Costa Rica’s average consumer price inflation increased to 2.16% for 2025 up from the -0.412% depreciation in 2024.
Costa Rica’s capital city is San José.
See also Bananas Exports by Country, Coffee Exports by Country, Top US Trading Partners, Netherlands Top Trading Partners and Belgium’s Top Trading Partners
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook report on Central America: Costa Rica. Accessed on February 20, 2026
Exchange-rates.org Costa Rican Colon to US Dollar, Exchange Rate History. Accessed on February 20, 2026
Forbes 2025 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on February 20, 2026
Foreign Trade , United States Census Bureau. Accessed on February 20, 2026
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on February 20, 2026
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on February 20, 2026
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on February 20, 2026
Wikipedia, Costa Rica. Accessed on February 20, 2026
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on July 2, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Costa Rica. Accessed on February 20, 2026
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on February 20, 2026