For Costa Rican businessmen, the neighboring country is a very important market, since it is dedicated to logistics, trade and financial intermediation, and demands different types of goods produced by Costa Rica.

In 2018 Costa Rican exports to the Panamanian market totaled US$606 million, which positioned Panama as the fourth most important destination for foreign sales, surpassed only by the United States, Holland and Belgium.

Francisco Gamboa, executive director of the Costa Rican Chamber of Industries (ICRC), explained to Nacion.com that “… the Panamanian market is of the greatest importance for this sector given the high complementarity of the economies. The Panamanian market is ‘tailor-made for Costa Rica’. It’s a neighboring country, which has traditionally been dedicated to other things than manufacturing industry.”

Gamboa specified that Panama is an economy that “… is dedicated to logistics, trade and financial intermediation. It has not developed an industry like Costa Rica and is a neighbor that has done well economically in recent years.”

Among the main products that Costa Rica sells to Panama are syrups and concentrates for the preparation of beverages, plastic items for packaging, medicines, animal feed, paints and varnishes.

Source: Centralamericandata.com