Costa Rican exporters are absorbing hits from three directions at once: rising port fees on the Caribbean coast, a colón that has strengthened to historic levels, and a 10% U.S. tariff that has complicated access to the country’s most important export market. Each pressure alone would be manageable. Together, they are testing the viability of export operations up and down the value chain.
Earlier this month, the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (ARESEP) approved a sweeping update to the tariff schedule for JAPDEVA, the state authority that oversees the Atlantic-side ports of Moín and Limón.
JAPDEVA had originally sought increases of between 13% and 167% across 19 port services. After a public comment period in March, during which business chambers registered strong opposition, the regulator approved a more moderate, though still significant, restructuring. ARESEP estimates that JAPDEVA’s overall revenues could rise by roughly 27% under the new schedule.
The increases affect several services tied directly to export operations. Towage fees rise 80%, vessel attention charges climb 64%, forklift services go up 78%, and energy for refrigerated container units, essential for perishable exports such as pineapple and bananas, increases 91%. Some fees did fall, including storage charges and passenger embarkation fees, but for the freight sector, the relief is limited.
The approved rates are maximum tariffs, meaning JAPDEVA retains discretion to charge less, but has made no commitment to do so. Within days of the ruling, the Cámara de Exportadores de Costa Rica (CADEXCO) filed a formal appeal before ARESEP, arguing that the financial data JAPDEVA used to justify the increases was unreliable and that the resulting structure puts export competitiveness at material risk.
For JAPDEVA, the revenue boost is framed as a necessary step toward financial sustainability after years of chronic deficits.
The port fee issue would be challenging enough on its own, but it lands at a moment when exporters are already absorbing significant losses from the exchange rate. The colón has surged to its strongest levels in more than a decade, trading around ₡454 per dollar, a sharp reversal from highs above ₡690 reached in 2022.
That appreciation, driven by strong foreign investment inflows, services exports, and a broadly weaker U.S. dollar, sounds positive in the aggregate. For a pineapple grower or a medical device manufacturer selling abroad, however, it means each dollar of revenue now converts into far fewer colones than just a few years ago.
The mechanics are straightforward and brutal. Operating costs, including wages, utilities, and port fees, are denominated in colones and rising. Export revenues arrive in dollars that are worth significantly less in local terms. Raising dollar prices to compensate is rarely possible in global markets where buyers can turn to competitors.
The Banco Central de Costa Rica has been purchasing dollars to moderate the appreciation, but officials have been clear that they are smoothing volatility, not defending a particular exchange-rate level.
For exporters hoping to offset shrinking margins by pushing more volume into the United States, the picture has also become more complicated. The U.S. is Costa Rica’s main goods export market, receiving about 47% of the country’s exports.
In April 2025, the Trump administration imposed a 10% baseline tariff on Costa Rican goods as part of its “Liberation Day” trade policy, disrupting the preferential access built under the CAFTA-DR free trade agreement. That rate later rose to 15% before being replaced in February 2026 by a new temporary 10% tariff under a different legal mechanism.
The current measure includes exemptions for some agricultural products, including goods such as coffee, bananas, and tropical fruits. That means Costa Rica’s farm exporters are not all exposed to the tariff in the same way. Still, the broader uncertainty has made planning harder for companies selling into the U.S. market.
Medical devices and other higher-value exports face a separate concern, as U.S. authorities have signaled interest in further restrictions on some strategic import categories. The Costa Rican government has kept dialogue open with U.S. counterparts and is working to protect CAFTA-DR benefits, but the outcome remains unsettled.
Large multinationals with treasury departments can hedge against currency swings using forward contracts and can absorb compliance costs tied to shifting tariff rules. Most small and medium-sized exporters, the backbone of Costa Rica’s agricultural sector, lack that flexibility.
For them, higher port fees at Moín and Limón represent a direct, unavoidable cost increase on goods that cannot easily move to market any other way. Stacked on top of a strong colón and shifting U.S. tariff rules, the cumulative effect on thin-margin producers is significant. Some exporters are pivoting toward the domestic market to capture colón-denominated revenue and avoid conversion losses, but this is a partial solution at best for producers who have built their operations around international demand.
The CADEXCO appeal leaves the JAPDEVA tariff question open, and a favorable ruling could provide some relief. On the currency and trade fronts, however, exporters have little control over the outcome.
What is clear is that Costa Rica’s ports, its exchange rate, and its access to the U.S. market are all under pressure at the same moment. The country’s response to that convergence will help determine whether its export sector emerges leaner or simply smaller.
