SANTIAGO de CHILE, 7 January 2010: The value of total exports from Latin America and the Caribbean in 2009 fell 24 per cent with regard to the previous year due to the global crisis, according to new estimates released by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC.
According to the study “International Trade in Latin America and the Caribbean 2009: Crisis and Recovery”, the value of imports also decreased 25 per cent. Although both exports and imports diminished significantly, the drop is milder than that experienced during the first semester of 2009 (31 per cent and 29 per cent, respectively), implying a better outlook for 2010.
The report updates the ECLAC study Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy 2008 – 2009 published last August and overviews the recent development of the region’s foreign trade by country and region of origin and destination, per groups of products and in terms of value and volume.
The 24 per cent contraction in the value of the region’s exports represents a combined 15 per cent drop in value and 9 per cent in volume.
“This simultaneous decrease in price and volume is unprecedented in recent history. The last similar situation took place in 1937,” states the document.
The economic recovery in the last quarter of 2009 is due, among other reasons, to the partial rise in the price of several commodities, such as copper, zinc, oil, wheat and soy, and the strong demand from China as of the second quarter of last year.
The report asserts that although the fall in exports was generalized in 2009, there were significant differences between subregions and countries. For example, while exports diminished 42 per cent in Venezuela and 32 per cent in Andean countries as a whole, they decreased 29 per cent in the Caribbean, 22 per cent in Mexico and Chile, and only 6 per cent in Central America (excluding Mexico).
In terms of sectors, mining and oil exports fared the worst, with an average fall of 42,3 per cent (January-September 2009), while manufactured products dropped 25,4 per cent and agricultural and livestock exports decreased 18,4 per cent.
The report International Trade in Latin America and the Caribbean 2009: Crisis and Recovery is available on the ECLAC website (in Spanish only).
