Panama is looking for export opportunities three key Asian markets, which are recovering faster from the COVID-19 pandemic, and open their markets to international trade: China, Japan and South Korea
The faster recovery from the
Coronavirus makes China, Japan and South Korea potential destinations for Panamanian exports.
The Office of Commercial Intelligence (INTELCOM) has updated its platform to a version 3.0 with data from these nations, reported Betsy Castro, head of the Ministerial Cabinet of the Ministry of Commerce and Industries (MICI).
Panama is currently in the process of ratifying a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with South Korea, while as of yet, it has no trade agreements with China or Japan.
The objective is to give tools to Panamanian exporters and future exporters to evaluate new market niches taking advantage of existing relationships, Castro reported.
Panamanian exports to Japan last year 2019 totaled around US $9 million, with beef, roasted coffee and seafood being the most exported. Meanwhile, exports to South Korea totaled more than US$ 8.3 million in 2019, the most exported products being copper, aluminum and steel waste, roasted coffee and seafood.
Exports to the People's Republic of China reached more substantially higher level, totaling US$ 59.7 million. The most exported Panamanian products were frozen boneless beef, fishmeal and roasted coffee.
Until last March, the platform presented information from 47 countries, that Panama signed trade treaties and agreements, giving details of the market access conditions for the different items, imports by product from the trade partners, as well as the regulatory requirements for the Panamanian exporters.
The INTELCOM website also has rating algorithms that allow ranking the best opportunities through a grading system, making it increasingly user-friendly. This version shows data on Panamanian exports to different countries, data from the International Trade Center Trademap and 9 new icons that facilitate the identification of information.