Panama recorded B/. 671.0 million (USD 670 million) exported between January and August 2025, exceeding the amount recorded in the same period of the previous year by B/. 33.7 million and marking the best performance in goods exports since 2010.
These figures represented a year-on-year growth of 5.3%, driven in part by the performance of products such as frozen shrimp, which has surpassed the traditional banana in share of the total shipped.
The analysis by tariff fractions showed that bananas accounted for 9.0% of the total amount, reflecting a decline after the impact of a workers’ strike and the subsequent departure of the company Chiquita in the second quarter of the year.
In contrast, frozen shrimp reached a share of 11.8%. Other products with outstanding performance included crude palm oil with 5.9%. Together, the top ten tariff fractions accounted for 52.9% of the recorded exports.
From a more general perspective, the main categories shipped in this period were fish and crustaceans (21.1%), fruits (13.4%), fats and oils (8.9%), iron and steel casting (6.6%), wood (4.7%), and sugars (4.6%).
Regarding destinations, the United States remained the main trading partner with a share of 15.8% of the total exported, followed by Taiwan (12.3%) and the Netherlands (8.2%). Spain entered the group of the top ten destinations, displacing Thailand. Together, these ten markets concentrated 69.4% of the recorded exports.
By incorporating value-added exports from special regimes—such as free zones and Panama Pacific—the total exported by Panama amounted to B/. 871.7 million between January and August 2025, exceeding the total from the same period in 2024 by B/. 11.2 million (1.3%).
