Free Zone upward trend closes pandemic gap
The commercial movement of the Colon Free Zone (ZLC) continues an upward trend, reaching $13,144 billion between January and September.
The figure represents a decrease of 4.8% compared to the data for the same period of 2019, but according to analysts, it is a sign that the free zone has closed the gap caused by the stoppage due to the Covid-19) pandemic.
In 2020, the second-largest commercial area in the world closed with a 20% drop compared to the previous year.
According to the monthly report, the ZLC registered transactions in September of$ 1,793 billion, a positive difference of 11.3% compared to the previous month and an increase of 50% in relation to the activity of September of last year.
Of the total accumulated until September, $6,317 billion relate to imports, $6,826 billion to re-imports.
In the area of imports for January-September 2021, 659.4 thousand metric tons were mobilized, representing an increase of 34.3%.
Re-exports registered a movement of accumulated cargo of 569.5 thousand metric tons, reflecting an increase of 29.1%, compared to the same period of 2020. China is the main supplier of the companies that operate in the ZLC, followed by the United States, Mexico, and Hong Kong; while Costa Rica, Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela and Honduras are the main destinations for re-exports.
