Costa Rica’s agricultural exports increased 11.7% during the first two months of 2007, thanks in part to strong sales of banana, pineapple and coffee, according to statistics published on the Foreign Trade Ministry’s (PROCOMER) Web site.
By the end of February, foreign sales of agricultural goods had reached $327.6 million, an 11.7% growth over the $293.3 million registered during the same period last year.
The main agricultural export was banana, registering $111.2 million during the first two months of the year, a 14.3% increase over the $97.3 million registered last year, followed by pineapple, whose sales reached $66.7 million, a 13.4% increase over the first two months of last year.
Coffee sales during the first two months of this year reached $40.6 million, an 11.2% growth over last year. Other strong agricultural exports include melon, which registered $33.7 million during the first two months of the year, and ornamental plants, registering $21.5 million.
Last year, agricultural exports reached $1.7 billion, a 17.4% growth over the $1.4 billion registered during 2005.