Panama - Foreign trade

The leading agricultural export—mainly controlled by foreigners—is bananas, followed by shrimp. The decline in exports of almost 11% from 1997 to 1998 can be explained by quotas imposed on banana exports by the EU (bananas represent nearly one-fifth of all exports). Light industry exports (clothing and manufacturing textiles) have been increasing due to the Free Trade Zone; but competition from Mexico starting in 1996 and the reduction of protective tariffs in 1998 stunted growth. Goods produced and exported from the Colón Free Zone are not accounted for in the foreign trade accounts below, including petrochemicals.

All of Panama's main export commodities are foods, including bananas (19%), fish (18%), shrimp (10%), sugar (2.6%), and coffee (2.1%).

In 2000 Panama's imports were distributed among the following categories:

Consumer goods	20.4%
Food	9.3%
Fuels	18.5%
Industrial supplies	22.8%
Machinery	17.1%
Transportation	11.8%

Principal trading partners in 2000 (in millions of US dollars) were as follows:

COUNTRY	EXPORTS	IMPORTS	BALANCE
United States	354	1,117	-763
Sweden	62	25	37
Costa Rica	41	119	-78
Mexico	24	133	-109
Guatemala	21	62	-41
Spain	13	61	-48
Japan	12	186	-174
Colombia	9	116	-107
Ecuador	4	243	-239
Venezuela	4	222	-218