Belize Imports Surge While Export Revenues Decline, SIB Reports

The SIB also reported that the country’s imports were up, while revenues from exports were down. The latest External Trade Bulletin showed that merchandise imports for the first two months of the year, were valued at $499.8 million. That’s an increase of 21.2 percent or $87.4 million more than it was from January to February 2023. The report showed increases in the importation of machinery and transport equipment, mineral fuels and lubricants, and manufactured goods. Meanwhile, export revenues for the first two months of the year totaled $37.5 million, which is a drop of just over 20 percent from what it was last year. The SIB said that most major commodities saw declines in revenue, including animal feed, sugar, marine products, and orange concentrate. Ronald Orellana Statistician 2 with the SIB, gave an overview of key commodities within the bulletin and their changes since last year.

Ronald Orellana, Statistician 2, Statistical Institute of Belize: “The total imports for the first two months of the year amounted to $499.8 million, up 21.2% or $87.4 million when compared to imports of the first two months of 2023. With a high value industrial generator imported at the beginning of the year the machinery and transport equipment category went up by $66 million, from $77.8 million in 2023 to $143.8 million in 2024. Now let’s look at our domestic exports. Total domestic exports for the first two months of the year amounted to $37.5 million, down 20.3% or $9.6 million when compared to exports of the first two months of 2023. Animal feed revenue plummeted from $10.1 million to $2.8 million as exported quantities fell by more than two-thirds during the period. Likewise, sugar exports saw a notable decrease of $6.8 million, dropping from $10.7 million to $3.8 million, with earnings down by 64%. Reduced exports of lobster products and shrimps during the period led to a $3.8 million decline in revenues from marine products, dropping from $7.1 million to $3.2 million. The diminished volumes of orange concentrate also contributed to a downturn in exported citrus, declining from $4 million to $1.7 million. Despite the general decline in domestic exports, bananas experienced a significant increase of $7.4 million, surging from $5.1 million to $12.5 million, with quantities more than doubling for the period.”

In February, CARICOM imported five point eight million dollars’ worth of goods from Belize, the most of any of the trading partners.