7 News Belize

Trade Affected By COVID 19
posted (May 27, 2020)
The Statistical Institute of Belize also provided insight on how the country's imports and exports performed as a result of last year's drought, and the emerging COVID-19 threat.

We start first with the presentation on the imports, and according to Statistician Tiffany Vasquez, Belize imported a lot less fuel, which contributed to a 30.4% decrease, when compared to the same period last year. Here's how she explained why the State of Emergency and the restriction of movement directly affected fuel importation:

Tiffany Vasquez - Statistician 2, SIB
"For the period January to April of 2020, Belize's imports were valued at 587.9 million dollars. This was a decrease of 2.4% or 14.5 million dollars when compared to January to April of 2019. A substantial decline in fuel expenditure in April of this year was the main reason for this downturn in imports. The mineral fuels and lubricants category, which consists all of our major fuels, including premium, regular, diesel, and kerosene, a category which accounts for 13% of all imports, fell considerably by 23 million dollars to 73.6 million over the 4-month period, a drop due almost entirely to April's plunge in fuel imports. One should note that notwithstanding the current lower world market prices for fuel, a decline of this magnitude was the direct impact of COVID-19. For in April of this year, where Belizeans were at their least mobile, due to restricted movements in accordance with the State of Emergency, only a small shipment of regular fuel was imported into the country. The demand for fuel by local consumers simply was not there. Furthermore, the period also saw smaller decreases in imports across other commodity categories. The categories of manufactured goods and other manufacturers, which made up 21% of all imports, together went down by 6.3 million dollars over the period, to 123.8 million, due to reduced imports of steel rods, cement, and plastic containers. In additional crude materials, which comprise only 1% of total imports dropped by 2.4 million dollars to 7.7 million, as the country imported less treated pine lumber during the first 4 months of this year when compared to that same period last year. Despite the overall drop in imports, however, a few categories grew notably, over the 4-month period, with greater imports across a number of food items including lard or shortening, corn seeds, and chicken sausages. The food and live animals category, which constitutes 13% of all imports, went up by 6.3 million dollars to 77.1 million. The country also imported more beer and aromatic bitters over the period, driving the beverages and tobacco category up by 4.1 million dollars to 15.8 million. Purchases in this category amounted to 3% of our total imports. Furthermore, chemical products, which accounted for 10% of all imports, rose by 3.3 million dollars to 56.5 million, as the period saw boosted imports of fertilizers, along with hand sanitizers and disinfectants, the latter most likely linked to the demand of our new COVID-19 reality. Lastly, the oils and fats category, which constitutes a mere 2% of imports, grew by 2.3 million dollars to 8.8 million, due to larger purchases of cooking oil."

Vasquez then went on to explain how last year's drought had a major negative impact on the country's agricultural exports during this year's first quarter. Here's that presentation:

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