Exports of goods grew 31.8% in 2021

12:37 25 de janeiro de 2022 Por Daniel Oiticica

The main destination for Salvadoran exports was Central America.

Total exports of goods produced by El Salvador totaled US$ 6,628.8 million at the end of 2021 with a growth of 31.8% (US$ 1,600.4 million more) compared to the previous year and 12.3% compared to 2019. The result as of December exceeded by 6.8 percentage points to the growth projected by ECLAC for Latin America and the Caribbean (estimated at 25% for 2021), reflecting the strong and rapid recovery of the country's export sector.

Exports from the manufacturing industry (not including maquila) amounted to US$ 5,177.0 million, increasing 30.9% (an additional US$ 1,221.1 million). The industry sectors with the highest growth were: the manufacture of clothing (US$1,285.0 million), the manufacture of food products (US$ 954.2 million), textile products (US$ 517.7 million), rubber or plastic products (US$ 454.6 million) and paper manufacturing (US$ 367.6 million).

The maquila manufacturing industry also recorded an excellent performance in the year, with an export value of US$ 1,251.8 million, which was higher by 40.8% (US$ 362.7 million), recovering from the 23.7% reduction that occurred in 2020. The main exported products For this sector were garments, which reached US$ 864.2 million (an additional US$ 248.9 million), followed by electrical condensers, which totaled US$ 241.2 million, with an important growth of US$ 102.2 million.

Coffee exports totaled an export value of US$ 122.8 million, experiencing a growth of 13.6% in value (US$ 14.7 million). On the other hand, sugar exports totaled US$ 200.7 million, equivalent to an increase of 7.1% (US$ 13.4 million).

The main destination for Salvadoran exports was Central America, with a value of US$ 3,006.6 million, that is, US$ 784.2 million more than the previous year (35.3% increase) and a 45.4% share of total exports. In second place was the United States with a demand for merchandise for US$ 2,614.1 million with an annual increase of US$640.5 million (32.5%) and a participation of 39.4% in the total; it was followed by Mexico (US$ 140.5 million), Panama (US$ 124.4 million) and the Dominican Republic (US$ 111.6 million).

Merchandise imports in 2021 totaled US$ 15,075.9 million, with a growth rate of 47.1% in value and 18.3% in volume. The main countries of origin were: the United States (US$ 4,090.4 million), the People's Republic of China (US$ 2,531.7 million), Central America (US$ 3,303.0 million), Mexico (US$ 1,227.2 million) and South Korea (US$ 367.9 million), representing in together 76.4% of total imports.