Nicaragua: clothing and footwear

Competitive wages and a stable business climate - along with a significant increase in the value of China's money - make Nicaragua a good place to manufacture clothing and shoes.

As far as China is concerned, constant high demand for its products has caused a steady increase in the value of its currency.

On August 31, 2005, a U.S. dollar bought 8.1 yuan. As of last week, the dollar was worth only 6.4 yuan, a gain of 21% over the past six years.
In addition, Nicaragua - the poorest country in Latin America - has the lowest wage rates in the region. Meanwhile, the supposedly socialist administration of Daniel Ortega in fact encourages and facilitates business investment.

Other positive factors include significant investment in the electricity-generation sector, which has largely eliminated the problem of chronic power failures.

Being in the same general time zone as the United States and Canada, and having low shipping costs to North America, are other relevant factors.

Opportunities

Textile manufacturers

Textile importers 

Textile machinery providers

New investors