by Rod Hughes

Everyone knows that this country exports tons of bananas and coffee but most people would be surprised that some of its products dominate niche markets in this hemisphere and in Europe.
Cotton panties and men’s briefs are big sellers in the United States, for example, as are yuca and other tubers, pineapple and fresh vegetables. Costa Rican soap is a big seller in Cuba while medical supplies, hypodermic needles and catheters are big in Honduras and the Dominican Republic Salvadoran and Guatemalan consumers dote on Costa Rican-made refrigerators, reports the daily La Nacion.
Fungicides are a big item with Panamanian farmers while Salvadorans buy quantities of synthetic fabrics from this country. Costa Rican bananas dominate the produce sections of Irish and Swedish supermarkets but Honduran, Salvadoran and Panamanian constructors buy tons of electrical conductors. Pineapple is often ignored as a big export but it is very big in the U.S., Germany,Belgium, the United Kingdom and Italy.
Glass containers are a big item in Jamaica, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
Not surprisingly, Costa Rica’s neighbor to the north, Nicaragua, is a great customer despite the diplomatic friction of recent years, buying tubes and conductors, plastic items and zinc sheeting. Locally-made sanitation items go over big in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and El Salvador.
And the survey does not include electronic components from the big Intel plant here that go all over the world, constituting this country’s largest export and make Costa Rica a major player for attracting cyber-based industry.
This list constitutes an excellent indicator for local business that items of low volume but which dominate niche markets are of prime interest to local manufacturers, says Sergio Navas executive vice president of the Costa Rica Chamber of Exporters. He attributes much of the success where local products dominate small markets to a constant supply of goods in due time and quantity and unwavering quality control.
Scanning the list, the pattern appears clearly: Manufactured items and bulky products do well in Central America and Panama where transportation costs can be maintained at a low level while tropical fruits and vegetables go over well in the European Union and the U.S. It is a matter of seeking out what other countries cannot or do not produce themselves and applying aggressive marketing to fulfill their needs.