Sunday, December 6, 2009

Why Buy From The Zona Libre De Colon In Panama?

By Joshua Adekane

A Zona Libre, better known as a Tax Free zone, is a geographic area where companies can import products from abroad and re-export to another country free of duty and taxes. This allows companies to better compete on an international level.

What are the advantages for companies to buy from the Zona Libre de Colon? It is ideally located in Central America which is an entry point to the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean. It is considered to be the crossroads of the world thanks to the Panama Canal. The Republic of Panama also enjoys economic stability thanks to the use of the US dollar as its legal tender which fluctuates less than other currencies in the region. A large banking center, a strong insurance industry and high tech ports also contribute to the success of this zone.

About the Zona Libre de Colon:

* More than 2500 wholesalers

* 450 hectares

*455 hectares

*300 000 buyers every years

* USD $14 billion in imports and reexports each year

*14 billion in imports and exports

Which countries do business with the Zona Libre de Colon? Most of the products are transshipped from Panama to other ports of Latin America. Imports come from the Far East with the largest suppliers coming from Hong Kong followed by Taiwan, United States, Japan, Korea, France, Mexico, Italy, Puerto Rico, Switzerland, UK, Malaysia and Germany. The most important buyer is Colombia. Other buyers include Venezuela, Guatemala, Ecuador, Costa Rica, USA, Chile, Honduras, Brazil and more.

The Zona Libre de Colon attracts more buyers thanks to its close proximity to the Panama Canal. Over 12,000 vessels cross the Panama Canal every year. With the expansion of the Canal planned to be finished by 2014, this traffic will surely increase. Several warehouse and logistic projects are planned for the next 5 years allowing the Zona Libre de Colon to grow.

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