Tegucigalpa.
the trade deficit Honduras in the first eleven months of 2020 stood at $ 3,877.8 million, 28.1% less than in the same period in 2019 (5,395.4 million), the country’s Central Bank (BCH) reported on Tuesday .
The entity has 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 in 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, meanwhile, fell 16% to $ 7,727.4 million, up from 9,195.7 million in the same period in 2019.
the decrease in imports it is the product of lower purchases of raw materials, capital goods and intermediaries, and inputs, the Honduran body added.
The Central Bank has noted that the United States was Honduras ’largest trading partner in the first eleven months of 2020, as this market generated $ 1,416.2 million, 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 844,400,000 dollars and in fifth place by the rest of the world with 219,500,000, the Honduran body said.
Honduras’ main suppliers are the United States, Central America, Europe and some Latin American countries.
The main product of Honduras export is coffee, A country that in the 2019-2020 harvest sold 7.2 million sacks and received $ 900 million.
In the 2020-2021 harvest the country expects to harvest a little over 8.9 million sacks of coffee, of which 750,000 are destined for the country’s domestic consumption and the remaining 8.2 million are exported.
Honduras, the largest producer of aromatics in Central America, sold in the first two months of the 2020-2021 harvest about 61 million dollars, compared to 101 million in the previous period, and exported 471,000 quintals of grain ( of 46 kilos), according to the Honduran Coffee Institute (Ihcafe).