COVID numbers aren't the only ones decreasing, as imports and exports were down last month. Imports saw a decrease of 52.5 million dollars, or 29%.
Imports fell across almost all commodity categories, with the 'Mineral Fuels and Lubricants' and 'Commercial Free Zones' categories recording the steepest declines compared to November of last year.
'Beverages and Tobacco' was the only category to have seen an increase in the month. A spike in imports of mainly beer led to a growth of $4 million, as imports within that category more than doubled from $3.2 million in November 2019 to $7.2 million in November 2020.
Domestic exports went down 5.5 million dollars, or 20.4%. Earnings from marine products declined significantly by almost two thirds, which was by far the largest decrease observed among export commodities during the month. Earnings from citrus products fell, although only slightly, from $3.6 million to a little over $3 million, due to smaller exports of grapefruit concentrate.
Both sugar and bananas saw modest increases in earnings in November. Revenues from sugar went up from $2 million in November 2019 to $3.1 million in November 2020, while earnings from bananas grew from $7.3 million to almost $8 million.
