As we recently reported that Sub Sahara region fell by 16.43 per cent in its apparel exports to USA during January-August ’20, the exports done by countries under The Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) have also plunged by 37 per cent in values in the same period.
CAFTA-DR is a 6-nation bloc that includes countries such as Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Dominican Republic, which shipped 1,247.57 million SME garments to USA worth US $ 3,598.25 million in the mentioned period.
Contributing over 28 per cent in overall import value of USA, Honduras remained the top apparel shipper under CAFTA-DR. However, the country plunged by 43.40 per cent to clock US $ 1,030.29 million in the first 8-month period of 2020.
Nicaragua grabbed the 2nd spot with US $ 850.34 million apparel shipment to USA, marking 27 per cent decline from the same period of 2019.
Guatemala was also down by 22.96 per cent on Y-o-Y basis and exported US $ 750.95 million worth of apparel products to USA in Jan.-Aug. ’20 period.
El Salvador, Costa Rica and Dominican Republic declined by 43.30 per cent, 39.63 per cent and 48.93 per cent, respectively, in their exports to USA indicating that despite having close proximity to USA and FTA with their largest trading partner, the region has been performing worse than Sub Sahara region, Middle East countries and their Asian counterparts.
