USA apparel import under The Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) has gone down by 35.72 per cent in values and 38.21 per cent in volumes during Jan.-May ’20 period.
The 6-nation bloc which includes Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Dominican Republic shipped 739.11 million SME garments to USA worth US $ 2,170.04 million.
Honduras, the top exporter of apparels to USA from the Central American region, fell 42.57 per cent to ship US $ 610.28 million worth of garments. The country’s share to overall apparel imports of USA under CAFTA-DR was 28 per cent, the highest of all.
Nicaragua was the second in the list and shipped US $ 525.82 million worth of garments to USA, noting 23.55 per cent decline on Y-o-Y basis. The share of Nicaragua in USA’s import from the region was 24.23 per cent.
Guatemala too plunged significantly by 23.73 per cent to export US $ 451.06 million worth of garments to USA in the first 5-month period of 2020 and it’s clearly evident that the country, just like all others, has taken a hard hit on its trade with its largest trade partner.
The next victim of disruption created by coronavirus was El Salvador which decreased by 39.28 per cent in its apparel exports to USA and clocked US $ 438.50 million, contributing 20.20 per cent in total USA’s imports for CAFTA-DR.
Dominican Republic tumbled significantly by 54.37 per cent to ship US $ 138.68 million worth of garments to USA. On the other hand, Costa Rica – which remained in the last spot of the tally – declined by 29.55 per cent and the export values to USA stood at just US $ 5.59 million in Jan.-May ’20 period.
