How the domestic industry of Costa Rica became more competitive in the US market. Antecedents and Trends

Purpose - The aim of this work is to study the reorientation that the export industrial sectors in Costa Rica have experienced during the last 20 years. Research design, data, methodology - The study employs the Cluster Analysis with the export data (20 years of cut-off period) from Costa Rica to the U.S-market. To make the predictions, the technique of the time series was used, with official data (from 2001 to 2010) from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission. Results - The Cluster Analysis, show how the economic sectors of traditional products exports of Costa Rica have progressively become in exporters of non-traditional products, meanwhile,the time series confirms that this trend will continue, at least during the next five years. Conclusions - The industry of traditional products exports of Costa Rica (dressmaking, vegetables, coffee, mate, species, etc.) will progressively become in exporters of non- traditional products with a high-tech component (i.e., mechanical equipment and devices, electronic devices and medical equipment),as a consequence of the Chinese (Costa Rica's main competitor) economy's presence in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCDE). This fact has enabled the potential improvement of Costa Rica's international competitiveness in the U.S. market.