Although industry representatives believe that the costs of exporting to the south are still high, the government is promoting access to those markets.
With this in mind, the Trade Promoter (Procomer) has opened an office in Chile, a country with which it signed an FTA in 2002.
In parallel, efforts have been made to sign a trade agreement with Peru, which is pending in the Legislature.
However, Costa Rican businessmen believe that despite these efforts, entering the southern markets poses significant challenges.
An article in Nacion.com states: "Luis Fernando Monge, executive director of the Chamber of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica (CRECEX), warned that services for exporting to South America are still very expensive and very slow, especially in the field of transport .
However, a study by Procomer states that while 10 years ago it took between 20 and 25 days to send a product to Chile, some carriers now offer the service in 11 days.
Martha Castillo, executive director of the Chamber of Industry, supported strategies to take advantage of the FTA, but said they are not thinking about negotiating more treaties with the south.
He added that logistics has improved somewhat, but are still costly, which affects small and medium enterprises who must form partnerships. "
Source: Nacion.com
More on this topic
January 2011
Within negotiations framework on a possible FTA with Peru, the Industry Chamber of Costa Rica (ICRC) said the new trade agreements should be coupled with the strengthening of administration and promotion mechanisms in order to create potential opportunities for the industrial sector of Costa Rica.
Marco Meneses, President of the ICRC, stated the union´s position with respect to the round of FTA negotiations with the South American country, which are currently taking place in Panama, in a letter delivered to the Minister for Foreign Trade, Anabel Gonzalez, exhibited concern over the choice of partners enabling positive and mutually beneficial trading.
April 2011
Monday May 2 in Lima will see the beginning of the fourth and final round of negotiations on the free trade agreement (FTA) with Peru
In this round, Costa Rica will define its position on outstanding issues in the field of access of goods to the market and specific rules of origin.
November 2010
Lack of results in eliminating unnecessary requirements and no progress on liberalization of raw materials are casting doubts on businessmen.
In a letter sent to the Minister of Foreign Trade, Anabel Gonzalez, the Board of the Costa Rican Food Industry (CACIA) ratified its opposition to further opening the domestic market to imports from Peru, due to the lack of concrete results in the competitiveness agenda.
May 2011
In the Peruvian capital, the negotiating teams of both countries have concluded negotiations for a free trade agreement.
"This is a treaty of great renown for small and medium enterprises because it opens up a market of 30 million people with increasing purchasing power, Peru will grow by 7.5% this year – it is a nearby country with good transportation routes and which shares the same language and customs, " said the Minister of Foreign Trade, Anabel González.
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