Exports

Exports of goods from Costa Rica during the first nine months of 2015 rose 2.3 percent compared with the same period of 2014 -- if adjusted for the infamous "Intel effect."

Tico coffee, a specific candy or a cookie brand: These are some of the Costa Rican products that Ticos living abroad frequently request from relatives or friends. So the Foreign Trade Promotion Office is using that loyalty to promote the opening of new export markets for local products.

Exports to China grew by an annual average of 7.6 percent between 2004 to 2014. Last year exports reached a total of $338.3 million, according to Costa Rica's Foreign Trade Ministry.

Some 300 Costa Rican companies will be offering their products at the fair to 200 buyers from 35 countries in Asia, Europe and the Americas.

One of Holland’s largest orchid growers is poised to build a sophisticated greenhouse in Guatemala to produce the popular, delicate flowers.

Intel's exit from Costa Rica last year continues to be the main factor causing negative growth of export products. Exports of services, however, grew for the fourth consecutive year.

Promotion strategies in recent months are attracting Chilean buyers of healthy, zero-calorie, gluten-free, organic and environmentally friendly Tico products, according to Costa Rica’s Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER).

Many people in Costa Rica's rural areas still use heavy, wood-burning stoves. But they're now becoming a luxury item for preparing meals on special occasions, as well as a collector's item for vintage decoration.

Flooding in the Caribbean has washed out fields of two of Costa Rica’s most important agricultural exports. Banana and pineapple producers are still trying to get a handle on the damage caused by heavy rains and flooding last week that cut off exporters from ports and damaged fields, business leaders told The Tico Times on Wednesday.

The Costa Rican Chamber of Exporters reported that the highway closure increased transport expenses for its associates by up to 30 percent.