When China suddenly emerged as a manufacturing powerhouse at the beginning of this century, even the most optimistic trade experts thought that Central America’s manufacturing export sector was doomed.

For a time, their predictions looked accurate: in 2001, exports from the region’s manufacturing export sector shrank 7 per cent while those of China and other Asiatic countries boomed. Today, China’s share of the US apparel market, one of Central America’s traditional niches, is close to 35 per cent, according to the US Department of Commerce. In 2000, it was just 5 per cent.