Belize’s Exports Plummet as Imports Decline by 20%: SIB Reports

Belize’s imports surged in the first eight months of this year, while its exports fell dramatically. According to the Statistical Institute of Belize, the country’s total imports of goods this year totaled $219.2 million, a 20.2% decrease from last year. Meanwhile, the country’s domestic exports were down by 39.2%. Statistician II Ronald Orellana provided more details. 

Ronald Orellana, Statistician II, SIB: “Machinery and transport equipment went up from 387.7 million to 488.8 million. This is a rise of 101.1 million which was due to the importation of several high-value items and vehicles. Followed by mineral fuels and lubricants where higher quantities of diesel, kerosene, and premium gasoline, as well as bunker sea fuel and liquefied petroleum gas were imported into the country, resulted in a 32.5 million increase in this category, from 269 million to 301.5 million. On the other hand, imports meant to the commercial free zone recorded a significant drop for the period going down by 20.3 million from 241.1 million to 220.7 million on account to less imports of cigarettes, footwear, and handbags. Now let’s look at our domestic exports. Total domestic exports for the first eight months of the year amounted to $307.1 million, down 1.5% or $4.7 million when compared to exports of the first eight months of 2023. Now, let’s look at the products that contributed to this overall decrease for the period. We can see that sugar and animal feed were the primary drivers of the overall decline, with sugar earnings falling by nearly 20% from 136.9 million to 118.4 million. Similarly, revenues from animal feed experienced a substantial decrease dropping by 17.4 million from 27.4 million to 9.9 million.”

While the country saw decreases in exports like sugar and marine products, citrus exports were up. Orellana delved into the details of the figures. 

Ronald Orellana, Statistician II, SIB: “Earnings from the European Union went down by 39.9 million, from 71.9 million to 31.9 million. Animal feed purchases by Central American countries saw a decline of 20 million during the period, dropping from 34.2 million to 14.2 million. Earnings from the United Kingdom, on the other hand, recorded a significant increase of 32.5 million, from 66.6 million to 99.1 million, on account to higher purchases of sugar and bananas from this region. Purchases of molasses and sugar from the United States of America recorded a rise for the period with sales to this country rising by 20.4 million, from 61.4 million to 81.4 million dollars. Now just to summarize, for the first eight months of the year imports were valued at $1.9 billion, up by 8% or $144 million when compared to the first eight months of 2023. As it relates to domestic exports, export earnings totaled $307.1 million in the first eight months of 2024, down 1.5% or 4.7 million when compared to the first eight months of 2023.”

The SIB will hold its last press conference for this year in December.