Honduras: Key Industries

Coffee and bananas have long anchored Honduras's agricultural economy, and both remain central to its export earnings. Roughly 55,000 mostly small-scale farmers grow coffee across the country's highlands, making Honduras one of Central America's leading coffee exporters, while bananas, once the country's economic mainstay under multinational growers such as Chiquita and Dole, continue to be shipped in large volumes. Palm oil and sugarcane have also grown into significant agricultural exports alongside traditional staples like maize and beans.

Manufacturing, particularly apparel and textile assembly, has become an important source of employment and foreign exchange. Free trade zones along the Caribbean coast and in the Sula Valley host maquiladora operations, many linked to Asian and North American firms, that produce knit and woven garments largely for the United States market under preferential trade access. Wood products, cigars, and light industrial goods round out the manufacturing base, while mining, centered on operations such as the El Mochito mine, contributes a smaller but longstanding share of output in zinc, lead, and silver.

As of 2024, services made up the largest share of the Honduran economy at roughly 58 percent of gross domestic product, followed by industry at about 26 percent and agriculture at around 11 percent, reflecting a gradual shift toward tourism, retail, and other service activities even as agriculture continues to employ a disproportionate share of the workforce. Remittances from Hondurans working abroad, equivalent to more than a quarter of GDP in 2024, remain an important complement to the country's industrial base.