Tegucigalpa.
He trade deficit The Honduran figure for the first eleven months of 2020 stood at 3,877.8 million dollars, 28.1% less than in the same period of 2019 (5,395.4 million), the Central Bank of the country (BCH) reported on Tuesday.
The entity indicated that the contraction is mainly justified by the “fall in national economic activity as a result of the pandemic of the covid-19, which in turn reduced imports of goods. “
Despite the adverse effects of the global health crisis and the damage left by tropical storms Eta and Iota, last November, merchandise exports increased by 1.3% between January and November 2020, to 3,849.7 million dollars, compared to 3,800.3 million in the same period of 2019, he added.
The rise in exports is due to the increase in sales of bananas, palm oil, gold and cigars (tobacco), said the central bank.
Imports, for their part, fell 16% and stood at 7,727.4 million dollars, compared to 9,195.7 million in the same period of 2019.
The decrease in imports It is the result of fewer purchases of raw materials, capital goods and intermediaries, and inputs, added the Honduran entity.
The Central Bank pointed out that the United States was the main trading partner of Honduras in the first eleven months of 2020, since that market generated 1,416.2 million dollars, followed by Latin America with 1,066.6 million.
It is followed in third place by Europe with 1,034.1 million dollars, Central America with 844.4 million dollars and in fifth place the rest of the world with 219.5 million, said the Honduran organization.
The main suppliers to Honduras are the United States, Central America, Europe and some Latin American countries.
The main product of Honduras’s export is coffee, a country that in the 2019-2020 harvest sold 7.2 million bags and received 900 million dollars.
In the 2020-2021 harvest, the country expects to harvest a little more than 8.9 million bags of coffee, of which 750,000 are destined for domestic consumption in the country and the remaining 8.2 million are exported.
Honduras, the largest aromatic producer in Central America, sold some 61 million dollars in the first two months of the 2020-2021 harvest, compared to 101 million in the previous period, and exported 471,000 quintals of the grain (46 kilos), according to the Honduran Coffee Institute (Ihcafe).
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