That dollar amount results from a 36.1% rise compared to $11.3 billion for 2018.
Year over year, the value of Costa Rica’s exported products gained 6.8% from $14.3 billion during 2021.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2022, the Costa Rican colón diminished by -12.2% against the US dollar since 2018 and fell by -4.2% from 2021 to 2022. Costa Rica’s weaker local currency makes its exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers.
Largest Customers for Costa Rican Exports
The latest available country-specific data shows that 84.0% of products exported from Costa Rica were bought by importers in: United States of America (43.8% of the Costa Rican total), Netherlands (7.7%), Guatemala (5.3%), Belgium (5.2%), Nicaragua (3.9%), Panama (3.8%), Honduras (3.4%), El Salvador (2.5%), Mexico (2.27%), China (2.25%), Dominican Republic (2.23%) and Japan (1.7%).
From a continental perspective, 46.6% of Costa Rica’s exports by value was delivered to North American countries while 26.1% was sold to importers in Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean. Costa Rica shipped another 20.2% worth of goods to Europe.
Smaller percentages went to Asia (6.6%), Africa (0.3%), then Oceania (0.2%) led by Australia.
Given Costa Rica’s population of 5.23 million people, its total $15.3 billion in 2022 exports translates to roughly $2,900 for every resident in the Central American country.
Costa Rica’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Costa Rican global shipments during 2022. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Costa Rica.
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: US$5.7 billion (37.4% of total exports)
- Fruits, nuts: $2.2 billion (14.5%)
- Miscellaneous food preparations: $878.7 million (5.7%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $655.2 million (4.3%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $466.1 million (3%)
- Vegetable/fruit/nut preparations: $442.7 million (2.9%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $382 million (2.5%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: $329.5 million (2.2%)
- Pharmaceuticals: $327.1 million (2.1%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $322.5 million (2.1%)
Costa Rica’s top 10 exports accounted for over three-quarters (76.8%) of the overall value of its global shipments.
Miscellaneous food preparations was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 12.6% from 2021 to 2022.
In second place for improving export sales was the coffee, tea and spices category via a 11.9% upturn led by Costa Rican coffee.
Costa Rica’s shipments of rubber both as materials plus items made from rubber posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 11.5%.
The lone decliner among Costa Rica’s top 10 export categories was fruits and nuts, thanks to its -3.8% year-over-year drop.
At the more detailed Harmonized Tariff System code level, in 2022 Costa Rica’s most valuable exported products were electro-medical equipment including xray machines (28.1% of the Costa Rican total), integrated circuits and microassemblies (16.7%), orthopedic appliances (7.8%), dates, figs, pineapples, mangoes, avocadoes and guavas (6.8%), bananas and plantains (6.6%), miscellaneous food preparations (4.9%), coffee (2.5%); insulated wire or cable (1.6%), fruit or vegetable juices (also 1.6%), new rubber tires (1.5%), then palm oil (also 1.5%).
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$4.7 billion (Up by 11.7% since 2021)
- Fruits, nuts: $2.1 billion (Down by -4%)
- Miscellaneous food preparations: $633.2 million (Up by 12.9%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $332.6 million (Up by 8.4%)
- Vegetable/fruit/nut preparations: $260.1 million (Up by 5.3%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $258.7 million (Up by 20.9%)
- Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $136 million (Down by -5.4%)
- Vegetables: $119.3 million (Up by 9.4%)
- Miscellaneous manufactured articles: $82.3 million (Up by 6.3%)
- Sugar, sugar confectionery: $75.7 million (Up by 11.9%)
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 -$5.8 billion trade deficit for 2022, expanding by 42.6% from the -$4.1 billion deficit one year earlier in 2021.
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$2.7 billion (Up by 57.9% since 2021)
- Machinery including computers: -$1.73 billion (Up by 15.5%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$1.2 billion (Up by 6.6%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$1.18 billion (Up by 6.0%)
- Vehicles: -$1.1 billion (Up by 21.5%)
- Paper, paper items: -$744.8 million (Up by 20.1%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$701.1 million (Up by 19.3%)
- Iron, steel: -$625.1 million (Up by 1.3%)
- Cereals: -$493.2 million (Up by 2.1%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$319.9 million (Up by 0.7%)
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 11.7% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2022 ($130.8 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 11.7% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2022 compares to 18.3% for 2021. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing 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 11.669% for 2022, down from an average 13.68% in 2021 according to statistics from the International Monetary Fund.
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 May 29, 2023
Forbes 2022 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on May 29, 2023
Foreign Trade , United States Census Bureau. Accessed on May 29, 2023
International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (Domestic Currency per U.S. dollar, period average). Accessed on May 29, 2023
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on May 29, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 29, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 29, 2023
Wikipedia, Costa Rica. Accessed on May 29, 2023
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on July 2, 2022
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Costa Rica. Accessed on May 29, 2023
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on May 29, 2023
