Browse Data and Analysis

Though relatively small, the Costa Rican food processing sector relies on U.S. exporters to maintain critical supply chains. Proximity, reliability, and familiarity help make the United States the preferred supplier for a wide range of food processing ingredients, including wheat, corn, and animal proteins.

FAS/San José expects Costa Rican sugar production in marketing year 2023/24 to recover from a 20-year low in the previous year and to continue to rise in marketing year 2024/25 on expanded area planted to sugarcane as producers in Guanacaste continue to abandon rice production.

FAS/San José anticipates Costa Rica's Ministry of Foreign Trade to allocate 2024 Dominican Republic - Central America Free Trade Agreement rice quota allocations by the end of April, effectively constraining the availability of U.S. duty-free rice to the final eight months of 2024. Though Costa Rica typically allocates quota volumes in December of the preceding year, calculations of 2024 volumes have been contested by importers following an extraordinary process resulting from a 2022 cyber attack.

Costa Rica reinstated 35 percent tariffs on non-U.S.-origin rice after an administrative court overturned an August 2022 tariff reduction and the Government’s appeal was rejected. Demand for U.S. rice has surged following the tariff restoration on reduced South American-origin rice competitiveness.

Though relatively small, the Costa Rican food processing sector relies on U.S. exporters to maintain critical supply chains. Proximity, reliability, and familiarity help make the United States the preferred supplier for a wide range of food processing ingredients, including wheat, corn, and animal proteins.

Industry experts expect a November 11, 2023, update to the Costa Rican biotechnology regulatory framework will facilitate utilization of innovative biotechnologies and reduce barriers to common applications of modern biotechnology.

Costa Rica declared the re-emergence of New World screwworm a national emergency on February 7, 2024, nearly 7 months after reporting its first case since the late 1990s.

FAS/San Jose collaborated with three Cooperators to highlight U.S. products tailored to Costa Rican food service demand at ExpHoRe - the largest trade show in Costa Rica targeting the hotel and restaurant sector.

The exporter guide provides an economic and market overview, as well as trends and practical tips for U.S. exporters on how to conduct business in Costa Rica in 2024.

FAS/San José expects a 15 percent decline in Costa Rica’s marketing year 2023/24 orange crop driving production down to 250,000 metric tons on suboptimal precipitation – associated with an El Niño weather system – during the critical fruit development period in 2023.

A July 29 seminar brought together roughly 100 Costa Rican craft brewers, retailers, restauranteurs, and enthusiasts to promote new brewing products and training courses to further develop the Costa Rican craft beer sector.

Genetically engineered crop area planted increased in 2023, though it remained small and limited to cotton for seed and pink pineapples.