BOLIVIAN INDUSTRY
Newsletter Date Volume 1 , Issue 1
BOLIVIAN MINING AND INDUSTRY
Special points of interest :
� The top trading partners are the United States , Europe and the surrounding South American countries .
� Bolivia is a part of the Southern Cone Common Market which is a free trade group .
� The biggest produced mining product was tin .
� Now the country focuses on oil and natural gas rather than mining .
� They produce gold , silver , lead and tin .
Bolivia was a very big mineral mining country producing gold , lead , silver , and most importantly tin . Tin was the biggest export for Bolivia in the 1980 ’ s . All the other manufactured goods were on a smaller scale as this was the biggest means of export for the country . They had other goods such as cement , tobacco , leather , chemicals , and explosives . Bolivia traded to bigger countries such as the United States , United Kingdom , and Germany . They also exported to the surrounding South American countries that surrounded them . The economy however took a turn in the 1990 ’ s when the world prices for minerals dropped off . Bolivia ’ s economy then had to change and they began drilling for natural gas and petroleum . So in the 1990 ’ s these resources replaced the minerals that they relied on as the backbone of the economy was now just a vital limb . In 2000 Bolivia had exported 1.2 billion and imported 1.8 billion dollars in domestic product . Bolivia is actually a part of a trade organization in South America that is designed to lower tariffs , taxes on exports and imports , so everyone can make more money . This organization is called the Southern Cone Common Market , and the countries that are a part of it are Argentina , Brazil , Paraguay , and Uruguay .