2023 closed with a decrease of 13.1% in the total value of imports, compared to the previous year, totaling US$9,598 million CIF. This reduction is mainly attributed to the decrease in imports of corn, with US$299.5 million (-13.8%), wheat by US$259.6 million (-29.3%) and coffee by US$231.2 million (-47.3%); which means a decrease of 4.9% in imported tons totaling 14.2 million in 2023. This behavior “is mainly explained by the reduction in imports of wheat by 312,320 tons (-14.9%), corn by 208,057 tons (-3.2%) and rice by 53,783 tons (-24.1%),” said Claudia Cortés, director of the UPRA.

In addition, the trade balance closed the year with a surplus of US$1,193 million FOB, although this figure represents a decrease of 9.9% compared to the previous year. In terms of volume, there was a deficit lower, by 1.8%, than the balance presented in 2022, totaling a negative balance of 9.03 million tons.

Imports of agricultural and agro-industrial products in December 2023

For December 2023, the figures reveal an increase of 2.2% compared to the same month in 2022, reaching US$872 million CIF. This increase was mainly driven by the purchase of soy (834.9%), ethyl alcohol (452.6%) and pork (74.2%).

In volume, the increase was 22.2% compared to December 2022, with a total of 1.4 million tons; This is mainly explained by the increase in corn imports, by 243,005 tonnes (46.8%); soybeans, 55,879 tons (963.6%); and ethyl alcohol, 33,928 tons (561.9%).

Context of the international oil price and representative market rate

In December 2023, the international price of oil was US$75.7 per barrel and showed a decrease of 6.9%, compared to the previous month. On the other hand, in December there was an average exchange rate of $3,954; the youngest in the last 18 months.