Browse Data and Analysis

FAS/San José projects Costa Rican sugar production to rebound to 400,000 metric tons in marketing year 2023/24, climbing nearly 10 percent higher from marketing year 2022/23, on drier conditions associated with the anticipated return of an El Niño weather system.

The Chaves Government introduced a 10-year national agricultural strategy targeting improved export competitiveness through more efficient institutions and the adoption or development of innovative technologies.

The Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR)[1] region and Panama combine to represent the seventh-largest market for U.S consumer-oriented products, totaling $3.7 billion in 2022.

With a stable democracy, predictable business climate, and economic growth fueled by a resurgent tourism industry, Costa Rica presents excellent export opportunities for U.S. food and beverage exporters in 2023.

FAS/San José anticipates Costa Rican orange production to rise to 305,000 metric tons in marketing year 2022/23, despite challenging growing conditions, as effective citrus greening management and increased density tree patterns drive yields higher.

The members of the Pacific trade bloc Alliance advanced Costa Rica’s bid for full membership, charting a course for Costa Rica to formally join Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Chile in 2023.

Though area planted with genetically engineered crops continued to fall in 2022, expanded operations of another cottonseed producer, opportunities to increase pink pineapple exports, and a new government opposed to ‘red tape’ could reverse this trend in 2023. While neither livestock nor other animal producers in Costa Rica appear interested in animal biotechnology applications at this time, a regulatory structure exists.

U.S. exports of consumer-oriented products rose 34 percent in 2021, climbing to $394 million, due in part to a strong recovery in the tourism sector. There were more than 1.4 million in-bound international travelers through July 2022, slightly off the pre-pandemic pace, but more than double 2021 levels and including nearly 820,000 Americans.

On July 6, the Government of Costa Rica published a draft executive decree that would dramatically reduce tariffs on imported milled and rough rice. The vast majority of U.S. rice exported to Costa Rica in 2021 (valued at $25 million) entered under a duty free quota for rough rice established by the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement.

The Costa Rican retail sector is growing despite lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, global supply chain disruptions, and rising prices. An increasing number of modern supermarkets stock an expanding range of imported products that reflect global and local retail trends, including clean labels, responsible packaging, and organic products.

This report provides information on the export certification requirements of the Government of Costa Rica. This report supplements FAS?Costa Rica’s 2022 Food and Agricultural Import Regulations and Standards (FAIRS) Report.

This report outlines Costa Rica's requirements for food and agricultural product imports. There have been no major changes in Costa Rica's import regulations since the 2021 report.