Exports from Panama grow by 5.0%: What are the products that sell the most abroad?

In general, exports of copper minerals and concentrates, bananas, frozen shrimp, fish and fish fillets increased.

By La Estrella

Copper, bananas, frozen shrimp, steel waste, copper, and aluminum are among the Panamanian goods that boosted exports during the first ten months of 2023, according to official figures.

From January to October 2023, Panamanian goods exports totaled $3.2457 billion, representing a growth of 5.0% or $156.910 million more than in the same period in 2022, when they totaled $3.0914 billion, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC), published by the General Comptroller of the Republic.

In general, exports of copper minerals and concentrates, bananas, shrimp, fish and fish fillets (fresh and frozen), fish meal and oil, coffee, steel waste, copper, and aluminum, raw sugar, among others, increased, as stated in the report on the “Main Monthly Economic Indicators 2023″ from INEC.

On the contrary, exports of melons, watermelons, pineapples, clothing, beef, hides and skins, wood, and others decreased. The banana export includes third-grade bananas (rejects); and in shrimp trade, farmed shrimp is included, the document adds.

Of the $3.2457 billion in goods exports, $2.4690 billion correspond to metallic minerals and $776.7 million to others, according to statistics from the Commercial Intelligence Office (INTELCOM), a platform that identifies export business opportunities, with a special focus on markets where preferential access has been obtained through the various trade agreements signed by Panama.

Among the main destinations for Panamanian goods are: China (Mainland), United States, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Netherlands, India, Germany, Costa Rica, Colon Free Zone (Panama), Canada, Taiwan, Bulgaria, Brazil, Italy, Mexico, United Kingdom, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Thailand, and Sweden, among others.

Tariff fractions

At the level of tariff fractions individually, copper and banana exports showed a good performance, representing 76.1% and 4.0% of the total, respectively. They are followed by frozen shrimp exports with 1.6%, crude palm oil with 1.2%, iron or steel waste with 1.2%, fish fats and oils with 1.0%, other medicines with 0.9%, and raw teak with 0.9%, according to INTELCOM statistics.

Additionally, for the first time, – throughout the period covered in this report – exports were made under tariff fraction 340530000000 (brighteners (polishes), and similar preparations for bodies, except preparations for polishing metals).

Before copper, bananas were usually the country’s number one export product (…), and surely when we have the statistics for the end of 2023, they will again appear first,” said a source from INTELCOM. Although also “exports of palm oil, coffee, frozen shrimp, and some other products such as medicines, teak wood, for example, are noteworthy because we send them to markets that are not like the typical ones in Panama, particularly in the case of teak (…),” he stated.

Copper exports

Copper exports, on the other hand, accumulated up to October, were $328.2 million lower than in the same period in 2022, according to INTELCOM. “One of the issues that could have affected exports accumulated until October 2023 was the closure of operations at the Punta Rincon port, for almost the entire month of February last year, by a decision of the Panamanian Maritime Authority (AMP). And, I don’t think that in October there was a significant impact due to the protests that started on October 21st,” he said. He predicted that the impact on copper exports due to the strike at the end of October, in any case, would be reflected in the results of the end of 2023. “Undoubtedly in November, I believe that the figures (will be) diametrically different in terms of what was exported at that time and in the accumulated. Clearly, it has to be much lower because from there (November) the entire copper export began to be affected,” he asserted. But, when analyzing the accumulated data up to October, it can be seen that the record performance of Panamanian goods exports in each of the previous months of 2023 is interrupted.

Outlook

Regarding the export estimates for the end of 2023, the INTELCOM source highlighted that copper exports were once between 75% to 77% of the country’s total exports. But now, for the end of 2023, “copper exports would have to be separated because now, by a decision of the Supreme Court of Justice (which on November 28, 2023, declared it ‘unconstitutional’), the mine could not continue operating.” However, he acknowledged that the total figures expected for 2023 “will” have an impact, compared to those of 2022. “Of course!, undoubtedly when you see it in the total, yes (they would have an impact). But, on the INTELCOM platform, in the graph, we have it differentiated, because those exports are relatively recent, from 2019 to now; and the other thing is that the rest of the exportable supply has a different component,” he explained.

Additionally, he added that other value-added exports made by the Republic of Panama from some special regimes, particularly free zones and Panama Pacific, have been added, and basically the levels are very similar and the one billion-dollar mark has already been surpassed, in addition to the exports that appear in INTELCOM, which are what is called registered exports.

If we add the exports from special regimes, we are already talking about a figure higher than two billion, which is relatively similar to that of last year. So, I would think that we are going to end up with a result probably somewhat more positive,” he estimated.

In his opinion, what should be looked at is what happens with the rest of the country’s exports and, in that sense, he mentioned that still, in the accumulated until October, the rest of the exports were growing by 7% compared to the first ten months of 2022. In general, he estimated that the rest of Panama’s exportable offer (without copper) will end 2023 with a growth of about 5%, above the figures of 2022, he emphasized. “I think that total exports will probably be above 2022, beyond the impacts that occurred during the month of November in particular,” he projected.

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) projects that in 2023, the value of Panamanian exports, if the Colon Free Zone (CFZ) is included, will increase by 5% and imports by 7%. For its part, INEC expects that the value of imports will decrease by -3.5%.