In its latest Estimates of Trade Trends for Latin America and the Caribbean, IDB pointed out that swift trend is mainly due to increased export prices, yet today´s indicators still show fragile pattern.

Regional export value went up 8.9% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2021 after a 9% slowdown in 2020, IDB reported.

Such a performance is due to the fact that the prices of some key exported staples improved, but real flow continued to decline, IDB warned.

According to Paolo Giordano, chief economist at IDB’s Trade and Integration Sector, the recovery is limited by a great number of uncertainty factors in the context of new coronavirus contagion waves deeply affecting some Latin American nations.

Likewise, Giordano said, the region is not fully capitalizing on the momentum generated by its two major trading partners´ economic growth, the United States and China.

In South America, mainly benefited by China´s demand, foreign shipments rose to 14.4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2021, after dropping 9.5% in 2020.

pgh/Pll/msm / crc