Industry of Costa Rica

Costa Rica is one of the most industrialized countries in Central America, although industries are predominantly small-scale and primarily involve assembling or finishing imported semifinished components. Of the few larger-scale manufacturing enterprises, the majority are in chemical fertilizers, textiles, coffee and cocoa processing, chemicals, plastics, electronics, and computer chips. The Intel corporation opened a chip-manufacturing plant in 1998. The garment assembly and tuna processing industries are important. Other manufacturing projects include aluminum processing, a petrochemical plant at Moin, a tuna-processing plant at Golfito, and an oil refinery at Puerto Limon with a production capacity of 15,000 barrels per day. Major infrastructure construction projects were planned as of 2002, but with the exception of road repair, most had not progressed. Industry represented 37% of GDP in 2000. The Costa Rican Investment and Development Board (CINDE), is designed to attract high quality foreign investment oriented toward exports.