The COVID-19 information portal for export companies is online

Within the framework of the exceptional circumstances generated by the global health crisis caused by COVID-19 and the deep economic impact on Uruguay's international trade, the agency Uruguay XXI, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, developed the website COVID-19 Useful Information for Exporting Companies.

The portal is managed by Uruguay XXI, the agency for the promotion of exports, investments and country image. Its aim is to contribute to the national private sector in the face of the crisis that the coronavirus is causing in the commercial activity of Uruguayan companies that export or have the potential to export goods and services, especially micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

The website will allow articulating useful information on foreign trade, keeping it updated, and basically enabling a direct channel to provide support and adaptation alternatives to Uruguayan exporting SMEs in a complex foreign trade scenario with convulsed global markets.

In its current phase, the portal contains information and applications of trade intelligence for exporting micro and small enterprises, early warnings, government measures, programs and tools for the facilitation of foreign trade. The website will continue to add content based on various reliable sources, including valuable information received by diplomatic representations in the markets.

In addition, it has a space for consultations so that Uruguayan exporters can register any possible inconveniences in reaching the destination markets of their exports. This information will be key to planning the recovery stages in accessing international markets.

The export core in Uruguay is composed of about 764 companies of which 77% are MSMEs, according to data from 2018. Although MSMEs account for only 7% of the value of exports, they generate 22% of the jobs in the export core, which represents approximately 13,521 people.

In the survey of exporting MSMEs (December 2019) conducted by Uruguay XXI and Equipos Consultores, two out of three companies exported between 2015 and 2019. Among the exporters, 63% consider that exporting is an important or very important part of their business and identify, among the main obstacles, access to financing and to counterparts in the destination markets.

COVID-19 Useful information for export companies is online at this link.