Central America: Facts & Stats

ECONOMY

Industry:

Most plants of Central America process raw materials of the region, such as sugarcane, coffee, cotton, timber, and fish. In addition, since the 1950s an attempt has been made to reduce the need to import basic fabricated articles. As a result, factories manufacturing paint, detergents, tires, paper and cardboard articles, fertilizer, and insecticide have been established in the cities of Central America.

Manufacturing establishments in Central America employ fewer than 100 people. In Costa Rica opening of a microprocessor manufacturing plant in the late 1990s has encouraged the growth of other high-technology industries.

Fishing is a comparatively minor economic activity in Central America. Since the mid-1960s only Panama has developed a fish-meal and a fish-oil industry.

The mineral output of Central America is not big. Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua produce of silver, gold, lead, copper, and antimony. Guatemala exports small quantities of crude oil.

Agriculture:

Farming is a leading economic activity in Central America. The cash crops, such as coffee (in many countries of this region coffee growing is the main industry), bananas, sugarcane, cacao, rubber, and coconuts are typically produced here, and a substantial part of the harvest is exported, mainly to the United States and Europe.

Cattle are also raised in the region mostly in the Western part of Central America. Many small farmers in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua were hit hard by drought in the early 2000s.

Trade:

Central America has intercontinental trade relationships with the United States. Most of the rest is with Western Europe, Japan, Canada, Mexico, and with the countries of South America. Central America's principal imports are manufactured goods, such as motor vehicles, farm machines, textiles, electrical equipment, processed food, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals.

The main exports are basic goods, which include bananas, coffee, cacao, meat, chicle, cotton, mahogany, balsa, and rubber; an exception is Costa Rica, which exports computer components and medical equipment, and El Salvador, where foreign-owned factories produce clothes and other goods.

Trade among the countries of Central America has increased since the 1960s. The Central American Common Market (1960) has reduced barriers to trade among member countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua) and has established a definite external tariff on many goods. One of its institutions is the Central American Bank for Economic Integration which makes loans to finance development projects.

moving to Central Americamoving to another countrylocal movelong distance movemoving a car
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 1 2012 2013
Zipcode Finder
-- select state -- AlabamaAlaska ArizonaArkansas CaliforniaColorado ConnecticutDelaware District of ColumbiaFlorida GeorgiaHawaii IdahoIllinois IndianaIowa KansasKentucky LouisianaMaine MarylandMassachusetts MichiganMinnesota MississippiMissouri MontanaNebraska NevadaNew Hampshire New JerseyNew Mexico New YorkNorth Carolina North DakotaOhio OklahomaOregon PennsylvaniaRhode Island South CarolinaSouth Dakota TennesseeTexas UtahVermont VirginiaWashington West VirginiaWisconsin Wyoming -- Select Country -- AFGHANISTAN ALBANIA ALGERIA AMERICAN SAMOA ANDORRA ANGOLA ANGUILLA ANTIGUA AND BARB. ARGENTINA ARMENIA ARUBA AUSTRALIA AUSTRIA AZERBAIJAN BAHAMAS BAHRAIN BANGLADESH BARBADOS BELARUS BELGIUM BELIZE BENIN BERMUDA BHUTAN BOLIVIA BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA BOTSWANA BOUVET ISLAND BRAZIL BRITISH IN. OCEAN TER. BRITISH VIRGIN IS. BRUNEI DARUSSALAM BULGARIA BURKINA FASO BURMA BURUNDI CAMEROON CANADA CANTON AND ENDER. IS. CAPE VERDE CAYMAN ISLANDS CENTRAL AFRICAN REP. CHAD CHILE CHINA CHRISTMAS ISLAND COCOS (KEELING) IS. COLOMBIA COMOROS CONGO COOK ISLANDS COSTA RICA COTE D'IVOIRE CROATIA CUBA CYPRUS CZECH REPUBLIC DEM. KAMPUCHEA DEM. YEMEN DENMARK DJIBOUTI DOMINICA DOMINICAN REPUBLIC DRONNING MAUD ISLAND EAST TIMOR ECUADOR EGYPT EL SALVADOR ENGLAND EQUATORIAL GUINEA ESTONIA ETHIOPIA FAEROE ISLANDS FALKLAND IS.-MALVINAS FIJI FINLAND FRANCE FRENCH GUIANA FRENCH POLYNESIA FRENCH SOUTHERN TER. GABON GAMBIA GEORGIA GERMANY GHANA GIBRALTAR GREECE GREENLAND GRENADA GUADALOUPE GUAM GUATEMALA GUINEA GUINEA-BISSAU GUYANA HAITI HEARD AND MCDONALD IS. HONDURAS HONG KONG HUNGARY ICELAND INDIA INDONESIA IRAN IRAQ IRELAND ISRAEL ITALY JAMAICA JAPAN JOHNSTON ISLAND JORDAN KAZAKHSTAN KENYA KIRIBATI KUWAIT KYRGYZSTAN LAOS LATVIA LEBANON LESOTHO LIBERIA LIBYA LIECHTENSTEIN LITHUANIA LUXEMBOURG MACAU MACEDONIA MADAGASCAR MALAWI MALAYSIA MALDIVES MALI MALTA MARTINIQUE MAURITANIA MAURITIUS MEXICO MIDWAY ISLANDS MOLDOVA MONACO MONGOLIA MONTSERRAT MOROCCO MOZAMBIQUE NAMIBIA NAURU NEPAL NETHERLANDS NETHERLANDS ANTILLES NEW CALEDONIA NEW ZEALAND NICARAGUA NIGER NIGERIA NIUE NORFOLK ISLAND NORTH KOREA NORWAY OMAN PACIFIC IS. TRUST TER. PAKISTAN PANAMA PAPUA NEW GUINEA PARAGUAY PERU PHILIPPINES PITCAIRN ISLANDS POLAND PORTUGAL PUERTO RICO QATAR REUNION ROMANIA RUSSIA RWANDA SAMOA SAN MARINO SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE SAUDI ARABIA SCOTLAND SENEGAL SEYCHELLES SIERRA LEONE SINGAPORE SLOVAKIA SLOVENIA SOLOMON ISLANDS SOMALIA SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH KOREA SPAIN SRI LANKA ST. HELENA ST. KITTS-NEVIS-ANG. ST. LUCIA ST. PIERRE ET MIQUELON ST. VINCENT AND THE GREN. SUDAN SURINAME SVAL. AND JAN MAYEN IS. SWAZILAND SWEDEN SWITZERLAND SYRIA TAIWAN TAJIKISTAN TANZANIA THAILAND TOGO TOKELAU TONGA TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO TUNISIA TURKEY TURKMENISTAN TURKS AND CAICOS IS. TUVALU U.S. PACIFIC ISLANDS U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS UGANDA UKRAINE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UNITED KINGDOM United States of America URUGUAY UZBEKISTAN VANUATU VATICAN CITY STATE VENEZUELA VIETNAM WAKE ISLAND WALES WALLIS AND FUTUNA IS. WESTERN SAHARA YEMEN ARAB REPUBLIC YUGOSLAVIA ZAIRE ZAMBIA ZIMBABWE

You need help with:
Your move DATE is:
Moving FROM Zip:
Moving TO State:
Moving TO City: