Between 2001 and 2011, Uruguay’s export performance improved in terms of market diversification, product offerings, and the number of businesses involved.
Following a press release by the Uruguay Institute XXI, in the year 2001 Uruguay sold to 106 countries, while ten years before, Uruguay reached 161.
The diversification of markets is a clear goal of the current government to relieve on one side, the effects of the trade barriers imposed by regional partners like Argentina and Brasil, and on the other, the damage from the financial crisis hitting Europe.
The Uruguay XXI study found that from 2001 “Uruguayan exports of goods presented a high dynamism” and added that they only fell in 2002 and 2009, years associated with economic crises.
What is more, of the 55 markets added Uruguay also added 107 new products to the export basket and 256 businesses that are dedicated to exporting.
In 2001 there where 733 export businesses and 621 products; the year 2011 closed with 978 businesses and 728 products.
The press release was emphasized that “the ten principal export products were from the primary sector of the economy [natural resources/raw materials]”. It added that the annual average growth during the aforementioned period was 14.6%.
Uruguay Business Reports translation by Donovan Carberry. The original article appeared in El Pais and can be found, in Spanish, here.
Uruguay Business Reports 