El Salvador: Key Industries

Services form the largest segment of El Salvador's economy, accounting for roughly three-fifths of gross domestic product. This broad sector spans banking, retail, and transportation, along with a tourism industry that has grown substantially since the end of the civil war in 1992, drawing visitors to the country's Pacific beaches, colonial towns, and volcanic landscapes.

Manufacturing, concentrated in apparel and textile assembly known as maquiladoras, represents roughly a fifth of the economy and remains one of El Salvador's most important sources of export revenue and formal employment. The 2004 Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) with the United States deepened this trade relationship, and the sector also includes beverages, cement, and pharmaceuticals produced largely for the domestic and regional Central American market.

Agriculture, once the mainstay of the economy, now plays a smaller role, though coffee remains its leading agricultural export alongside sugarcane and nontraditional crops such as pineapples. Remittances sent home by more than a million Salvadorans living in the United States have become one of the economy's most critical supports, helping offset a persistent trade deficit and providing income for many households.