by Kristen Ku
BELIZE CITY, Thurs, Apr. 27, 2023
The latest Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB) release, for the month of March 2023, reveals that there has been an increase of imports, by 6.3%, and a decrease of exports, by 36.9%, compared to March 2022.
Imports
March 2023 saw an increase in imports, $237.8 million, up from $223.5 million in March 2022.
Increasing Activity
The four main contributors to the increase in imports are Machinery and Transport Equipment, Mineral Fuels and Lubricants, Crude Materials, and Food and Live animals.
Within the Machinery and Transport Equipment category there was an increase of 50% or $19M, as numbers rose from $39.2M in March 2022 to $58.2M in March 2023 due to a donated airplane from the United States Government. Mineral Fuels and Lubricants saw an increase of $5.7M, as numbers changed from $32.4M to $38.1M due to a surge in imports of diesel and regular fuel. Numbers in Crude Materials increased by $2M, from $2.3M in March 2022 to $4.3M in March 2023, due to higher imports of treated pine lumber and grass seeds. There was also an increase in the Food and Live Animals category, from $23.9M in March 2022 to $25.1M in March 2023, due to increased purchase of malt, orange concentrate, and powdered milk.
Decreasing Activity
Imports of fertilizer declined 37%, from $31M in March 2022 to $19.5M in March 2023. Other Manufacturers also saw a decrease, from $19.1M in 2022 to $17.4M in 2023 due to fewer imported medical supplies, sensors, and regulators.
Exports
The SIB report on domestic exports for the month of March 2023 revealed a decrease of 36.9%, from $49M seen in March 2022 to $30.9M in March 2023.
Decreasing Activity
All major exports decreased from March 2022 to March 2023. Sugar shipments saw a decrease, from $18.2M to $4.9M due to different shipping schedules. Revenues from bananas saw a decrease, from $6.6M to $3.5M; while earnings of marine products decreased from $5.2 million to $3.6 million, due to a reduction of lobster tails and its sale prices along with a dip in conch market prices.
Other exports such as Crude Petroleum decreased, from $1M in March 2022 to $0.2M in March 2023, while revenues from citrus products declined from $6 million to $5.6 million.
Black-eyed peas and red-kidney beans also declined from March 2022 to March 2023, going from $1 M to $0.4 M and from $1.4 million to $1 million, respectively.
Major Destinations
Revenues received from the European Union declined from $20.2M to $2.2M from March of last year (2022) to March 2023, due to lower sugar exports. Similarly, revenues from the United States saw a reduction from $8.2 million to $5.2 million, due to the decrease of exports of lobster tails and no exports of orange concentrate and red kidney beans.
Earnings from the CARICOM region grew from $6.8 million to $8.7 million, mainly from the exportation of orange concentrate and red kidney beans.
Finally, export to ‘Other Countries’ saw a rise from $1.2 million in March 2022 to $3.3 million in March 2023 due to an increase in the export of molasses.