Free Zone exports continue to face problems and their fall could not be offset by the best performance of the general regime, and between January and August the value of total exports recorded a slight drop
While exports from Zona Franca companies face difficulties, the Ortega Murillo regime continues to bet on consolidating its trade relationship with China, time is moving forward and the market of its new political ally remains unagazed. According to official reports, in the first eight months of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) it signed with the Asian giant, that market only acquired 1.2 percent of total exports, equivalent to $6280 million.
In the same period, and despite the tensions caused by the air bridge that from the Managua air terminal the regime offers irregular migrants from all over the world who want to reach the United States, the U.S. market was the destination of 48 percent of total sales and paid $2.459.80 million for them.
The most recent update of foreign trade statistics published by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Trade (Mific) shows that between January and August, the revenues generated by total exports, which include those of the general regime and those of the Franco zone preferential, fell by 0.8 per cent, as they only generated $5,157 million, an amount lower by $39.60 million compared to 5,196 million in the same months last year.
Exports of harnesses and coffee in free fall
The slight decline in total exports in the first eight months of 2024 led to a 3.7 per cent reduction in revenues generated by the placement of Free Zone goods in the external market. Between January and August 2024 these sales only produced $2.259 million, lower than $87 million compared to the 2.346 million they generated in the same months last year.
This decline in the products of Zona Franca, according to the report of the Mific, was caused by lower sales of automotive harnesses, crop shrimp, cotton yarns and live plants.
This decrease of $87 million partially offset the 1.7 percent growth in revenue from general regime products. In this year’s benchmark, they contributed $2.897 million to total export revenue, up from $47 million compared to $2.85 billion in the same months last year.
This growth, according to the Mific, was mainly boosted by the increase in the revenues generated by the export of gold and beef. However, a fall of almost $100 million in coffee exports countered the good performance of the other products.
The United States bought less, China almost nothing
With regard to the total export destination markets, the Mific report details that the main trading partner remains the United States. However, in this year’s reference period it bought $195 million less than in the same period last year. Between January and August of this year it contributed 2.459 million to total income, the figure is lower than the 2,654 million in the same period last year, but represents 48 percent of the total income of the export sector.
On the other hand, China, which according to official propaganda is the partner that will boost the economy, is not buying much. Although since 1 January of this year the FTA that the Ortega Murillo regime signed with that country has been in force and since 1 May 2023 the Early Harvest Agreement opened the doors of that market to more than fifty Nicaraguan products, shipments to that market remain minimal.
Between January and August 2024, according to the Mific, exporters sent the Chinese market $62.8 million in products. And although the amount is almost double compared to the 35.6 million they placed on that market in the same months last year, it represents only one percent of total income, a percentage similar to that of recent years.
This article has been translated after first appearing in La PrensaNi