Tenerife: Export gateway to West Africa and the Americas
Owing to its geostrategical position and its development within the European Union, Tenerife has become a privileged port for commercial development between the Old World, Africa and the Americas. Its location in the Atlantic makes Tenerife a perfect gateway for the distribution of goods and services to the two great continents, Africa and America, as well as to continental Europe.
In fact, the group of exports made from the Canary Islands to Africa, with a volume of over 124 million euros in the year 2002, is the second largest one A growing trend has been noted in recent years for Spanish and international companies to choose Tenerife as the commercial port for exporting their goods and services to the African continent. In fact, the group of exports made from the Canary Islands to Africa, with a volume of over 124 million euros in the year 2002, is the second largest one. This has meant these exports have multiplied sixfold in the last six years.
Growing exports to West Africa
A large part of these shipments are sent to Morocco. On the other hand, a hundred Tenerife companies have become specialists in exports to West Africa in recent years, and particularly to the most stable countries in this zone, such as Senegal, Mauritania, Gabon and Ghana. Exports are also sent to other countries in the zone, such as Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea Conakry, Guinea Bissau, the Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leona and Togo. Commercial exports of companies from Tenerife to these countries in 2002 were over 115 million euros, which represents an increase of 17% with respect to the previous year.
West Africa, with a potential market of over 200 million consumers, offers a great deal of business opportunities for all those companies that are established in Tenerife. Tenerife also features as a launch pad from Western Europe for sending products and services to the Americas, whether to the U.S.A., fundamentally through Miami, or to Central and Latin America. In fact, there is a very strong relationship that unites the Canary Islands with diverse Latin American countries, and especially with Venezuela, where there is a significant settlement which origins date from the Canary Islands emigration to Central America.