The Ministry of Finance and Public Credit maybe opening their Christmas presents a little early, however, with good reason. As anticipated, Nicaragua has reached an annual exports record, but with one month to go. Exports continue to be buoyed by the increased production in the gold mining sector as well as the world price of gold.
December numbers are still to come, however, allowing for seasonal variances and considering previous history, the Ministerio de Hacienda y Crédito Público (MHCP) have called it a “new annual exports record” with the general regime of exports at US $3.292 billion.
The export list contains 107 different products shipped from Nicaragua so far this year. In relation to the year-on-year performance of “exported volumes” the top products have been; raw gold, beverages, rum and alcoholic beverages, beef, peanuts, cattle, oils and fats, mozzarella cheese, café oro, farmed shrimp, fish, other seafood an finished cigars.
When compared to the same period last year, Nicaragua annual exports have increased by almost 21% which has added another US $ 569.3 million to the US $2,723 million in exports achieved during January to November of 2020.
Nicaraguan products were sent to 119 different countries, 105 of those with total orders ranging from above US $10 million, up to US $1,601.8 million dollars.
The United States continue to be Nicaragua’s best customer with exports worth US $ 1.6 billion (an increase of US $311.7 million this year, followed by Mexico with US $148.2 million (up US $73.26 million on last year).
Gold
The January to November data from CETREX (the Nicaraguan Center for Export Procedures) shows that Nicaragua shipped US $807 million worth of gold during the 11 months from January-November 2021, up almost 35% over the same period last year.
The forecast for gold exports for 2021 is almost 500,000 ounces with a value of about US $870 million.
The outlook for 2022 is that gold will hit the US $1 billion export mark as expansion continues by companies such Calibre Mining, Hemco Nicaragua and Mako Mining.
