Ecuador's trade balance is generally positive, due overwhelmingly to its oil exports. Ecuador's oil reserves and refineries account for slightly over half of the country's commodity exports (51%). Agricultural exports include bananas (17%), shellfish (5.7%), coffee and cocoa (2.6%), and fish (4.6%). In 2000, the government raised the price of Ecuadorian petrol by 60% in order to forge an economic recovery. Ecuador exports about half of its petroleum to the US, while the US supplied 26% of Ecuador's imports in 2000.
In 2000 Ecuador's imports were distributed among the following categories:
Consumer goods | 15.2% |
Food | 7.0% |
Fuels | 7.2% |
Industrial supplies | 42.1% |
Machinery | 18.5% |
Transportation | 8.6% |
Other | 1.4% |
Principal trading partners in 2000 (in millions of US dollars) were as follows:
COUNTRY | EXPORTS | IMPORTS | BALANCE |
United States | 1,828 | 884 | 944 |
Korea | 317 | 55 | 262 |
Panama | 293 | 99 | 194 |
Colombia | 260 | 488 | -228 |
Chile | 221 | 200 | 21 |
Italy | 160 | 54 | 106 |
Japan | 129 | 124 | 5 |
Germany | 123 | 117 | 6 |
Venezuela | 108 | 271 | -163 |
Spain | 71 | 59 | 12 |
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