El Salvador accounted for 20.4% of the Central American Single Declaration (DUCA-F) operations in 2023, according to a report by the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA). This figure represents over 89,000 of the 439,786 DUCA-F operations executed across the region.

DUCA-F is a mandatory declaration for the trade of goods originating within Central America. Alongside DUCA-F, businesses must also issue DUCA-T for international land transit and DUCA-D for exports to third countries. These declarations have been in use since May 2019.

In 2023, El Salvador was the second-highest user of DUCA-F, trailing Guatemala, which handled 44.8% of the operations with over 197,000 documents. Costa Rica followed with approximately 71,000 declarations, and Honduras with more than 47,000.

The DUCA-F operations in 2023 represented at least $8.65 billion in mobilized goods, with El Salvador contributing over $1.7 billion. Guatemala led the region with 39.1%, followed by Costa Rica (19.8%), Nicaragua (10.4%), Honduras (9.3%), and Panama (1%).

SIECA’s report highlights that $4.495 billion of the goods were consumer products, $3.903 billion were intermediate goods, and $250.6 million were capital goods. In El Salvador, consumer goods made up 50% of the mobilized value, with intermediate goods at 47.8%.

Top exports from El Salvador and Guatemala include toilet paper and similar products. Costa Rica’s main demand is for electrical cables, while Honduras exports bakery products. Nicaragua’s primary export is fresh or refrigerated beef, and Panama specializes in aluminum containers.