Costa Rica increases exports by 11 percent in first half of 2012

Costa Rica exported $5.9 billion in goods during the first half of 2012, reflecting a 10.9 percent increase over the same period in 2011, according to a report by the Foreign Trade Promotion Office.

Costa Rican export figures are almost three times higher than global export averages forecast by the World Trade Organization, which estimated a global growth rate in trade at 3.7 percent this year.

Service exports for the first quarter of 2012 also showed dynamic activity, with a growth of 15 percent – more than four times the growth of service exports globally.

The three sectors that increased exports are livestock and fisheries, with 17 percent growth, industry, with 14.4 percent, and agriculture, with a slight increase of 0.7 percent due to a decrease in banana exports by 8.2 percent.