During 2020, Central American rice imports amounted to $388 million, and purchases from Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay increased in year-on-year terms by 751%, 330% and 218%, respectively.
Figures from the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with the graphic"].
For the Central American Rice Federation, the bankruptcy of more than 62 thousand rice farmers in Central America and the Dominican Republic is imminent, due to the abolition of import tariffs, a measure that is part of the implementation of the DR-CAFTA Free Trade Agreement.
Representatives of the sector consider that if the commercial liberalization of rice cultivation continues, there will be an increase in unemployment and poverty in their agricultural areas, since more than 265,000 people depend directly on this crop and approximately 990,000 people indirectly, and foresee serious social, economic and political implications due to the effects of the Treaty.
From January to September 2020 Central America allocated $298 million to rice imports, and purchases from Brazil increased 808% compared to what was reported in the same period of 2019.
Figures from the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with the graph"]
Between January and March 2020, Central America allocated $51 million to rice imports, 9% less than in the same period in 2019, with Costa Rica and Nicaragua being the markets that registered the most significant reductions.
Figures from the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with graph"]
From March 2 to 16, local authorities will submit for public consultation the Draft Technical Standard, Characteristics and Technical Requirements of the Premix for the Fortification of Piled Rice.
The project on "Premix for the Fortification of Piled Rice" is the result of one of the two regulatory documents of the General Directorate of Standards and Industrial Technology (DGNTI), reported the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MICI).
Between January and September 2019, Central America allocated $198 million to rice imports, 22% less than in the same period in 2018, with Panama and El Salvador being the markets that recorded the most significant reductions.
Figures from the Trade Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with graphics"]
The National Assembly of Panama approved funds to pay during the second half of the year, incentives to producers of rice, corn and milk grade C.
The Budget Commission of the National Assembly approved in favor of the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MIDA) $17,371,543, to pay incentives to producers, needs an official report.
Between June 2018 and the same month in 2019, the average price of Central American rice imports has reported a downward trend, from $0.43 to $0.34 per kilo.
Figures from the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with the graphic"]
For the 2019-2020 agricultural cycle, 67,558 hectares of grain have been planted in the country, an area that exceeds in 5% what was reported for the previous harvest.
92.2% of the total rice crop is unirrigated (62,280 hectares with 988 producers) and 7.8% is irrigated (5,278 hectares of 53 producers), informed the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MIDA).
In Panama, the subsidy to producers of $7.50 per quintal of rice that expired on June 30, 2019, was extended again by the government, this time until June 30, 2020.
The signing of a resolution to support national rice producers took place on July 18 at a meeting held by President Laurentino Cortizo Cohen with the Minister of Agricultural Development, Augusto Valderrama, and directors of public agricultural sector institutions, the government said.
In the first six months of the year, rice imports in Central America reached $163 million, an increase of 56% over the same period in 2017.
Figures from the information system of the Rice Market in Central America, from the Trade Intelligence Area of CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with graphic"]
In Panama, the incentive of $7.50 applied to each hundredweight of paddy rice has been extended for the period from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019.
The Ministry of Agricultural Development (Mida) reported that in addition to the incentive of $7.50, it has been established that the price of a hundredweight of rice will be $17, (depending on the variations that occur in terms of promotions or discounts), which will be paid by the mills and intermediaries to local producers.
Explained by an increase in purchases made from companies in Brazil, during the first quarter of the year Panama imported $19 million worth of rice, 207% more than in the same period in 2017.
Figures from the Information System on the Rice Market in Central America, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with graph"]
Between the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 agricultural cycles, the amount of land planted with rice in Panama grew by 2%, but the volume harvested decreased by 2%.
According to figures from the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic, during the last two agricultural years the area sown for rice production increased from 91,270 hectares in the 2016-2017 cycle to 93,270 hectares in the 2017-2018 season.
In 2017, countries in the region imported $265 million worth of rice, of which 45% was purchased by companies in Costa Rica and Honduras.
Figures from the Information System on the Rice Market in Central America, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with graph"]
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