Salvadoran producers explore opportunities to bring their products to Chinese buyers. AI image Generated for Our Life in El Salvador
When I read about trade between El Salvador and China, the story is usually about products arriving here from China. That is why a recent article about Salvadoran businesswoman Carolina Folgueiras caught my attention. She wants to help local producers move goods in the other direction.
Folgueiras has more than 20 years of experience in the Chinese market. Through her business, Import China Asia, she is offering Salvadoran producers help with the steps between making a product and selling it to a buyer in China. Those steps include understanding Chinese consumer preferences, preparing suitable packaging, meeting requirements, and finding buyers.
Selling More Than a Product
One point she made stayed with me: a coffee producer should think about exporting a brand, rather than simply exporting a sack of coffee. A brand gives buyers something they can recognize and seek out again. But building one for a distant market takes work. The product, its packaging, and the information on its label all have to make sense to the people buying it.
That is where Folgueiras believes her experience can help. She knows the Chinese market, while Salvadoran producers know what they can make. Bringing those two kinds of knowledge together could give more local businesses a chance to explore exports.
An Opportunity, With Work Ahead
El Salvador already exports goods to China. In the first half of 2026, those exports reached $55.2 million, an increase of 30.5% over the same period in 2025. Sugar is one product that has established a place in that market. Even so, Salvadoran exports remain small compared with the goods the country imports from China.
For me, that makes the direction of Folgueiras’s effort especially interesting. Could more Salvadoran coffee, food products, or other goods find customers there? The answer will depend on whether producers can meet the market’s requirements, find dependable buyers, and make the numbers work after shipping and other costs.
The article describes the services Folgueiras is offering, but it does not give an example of a completed Salvadoran export sale through this effort. I will be interested to see which producers take part and whether their products reach Chinese shelves.
El Salvador has capable producers and products worth sharing. Helping them sell abroad could create opportunities here at home. It is a story I hope we get to follow beyond the first shipment.
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Hugh & Elizabeth
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