New data from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) reveals a robust expansion of export activity across Latin America and the Caribbean, with the total value of regional goods shipments rising 15.7% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026. This strong performance builds on the 7.8% annual growth the region recorded in 2025, according to the bank’s latest *Trade Trends Estimates – Latin America and the Caribbean* report.
The upward trend is fueled by simultaneous growth in both export volumes and per-unit pricing, the analysis confirms. Leading the expansion are mineral exports, most notably gold and copper, followed by resilient gains in the agribusiness sector, where soybeans, coffee, and meat have all posted strong returns. Energy exports, particularly crude oil, have also made a substantial contribution to overall regional growth.
Paolo Giordano, lead economist for the IDB’s Productivity, Trade, and Innovation Sector and the report’s lead coordinator, noted that the region has steadily strengthened its export standing even amid widespread volatility and uncertainty in global trade markets. The consistent growth momentum, he argued, demonstrates the region’s growing adaptive capacity to shifting global conditions.
Giordano emphasized that the current export uptick creates a timely window for policymakers to advance structural reforms that can lift long-term productivity, enhance regional competitiveness, expand market diversification across global trading blocs, and build stronger resilience to future external economic shocks.
Despite ongoing global economic uncertainty, the IDB maintains a broadly positive medium-term outlook for regional trade. Still, the report warns of lingering risks that could disrupt performance in the coming months. Shifting global commodity prices will create uneven impacts across the region: net energy and food importing nations will face additional cost pressure, while commodity exporting economies stand to benefit from elevated global prices. Meanwhile, sustained high prices for fertilizers and global shipping services are pushing up production and distribution costs across the region, creating a mixed landscape of both opportunities and risks for export growth.
On the import side, the IDB estimates total regional imports grew 6.7% in 2025, followed by a 9.7% year-over-year acceleration in the first quarter of 2026. This growth has been driven primarily by increased purchases of goods from markets outside the Latin America and Caribbean region, with intra-regional trade expanding at a far more moderate pace. The report also notes that commodity prices followed widely divergent trends in early 2026, a reflection of growing global market fragmentation and ongoing shifts in global supply and demand dynamics.