In October, exports of the grain increased by 6% compared to the same month in 2012 with 3 million bags each weighing 60 kilos, however income decreased, standing at $463.6 million.
Data from the Council of Brazilian Coffee Exporters (CeCafé) reveals that between January and October, 25.6 million bags of coffee were sold, 13.7% more than in the same period in 2012. However, income also decreased, by 15.7% giving a total of $4,357,000.
During 2012 Panama imported $180 million worth of items from the printing industry in Costa Rica, making the country the fifth largest supplier of these products.
The first places are occupied by U.S. with 41%, Mexico 8%, Colombia 5.6%, as well as Honduras and Costa Rica at 5%, according to the study "Opportunities for the Costa Rican printing industry in Panama" by the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (Procomer).
The entry into force of the FTA with the European Union opens up opportunities for Colombia products such as lemons, Tahiti, papaya, cantaloupe and watermelons.
From an article by the Costa Rican Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER):
With the entry into force of the FTA between the EU and Colombia, as of August 2013, the Colombian are looking to to venture much further into markets such as the German one, because one of the signs of the growing deamand in Europe is that 46% of imports which arrived at Frankfurt airport, which weighed 98,600 in 2012, were for fruit and vegetables.
Negotiations are underway for a voluntary agreement to channel excess supply of wood in the Honduran market by exporting it to the EU with legal certification.
"... With the European Union we are negotiating a voluntary agreement to export timber and open the market which today is very insignificant, less than 2%, but we hope that in the future it will be the largest source of Honduran timber exports," said José Trinidad Suazo, executive director of Forest Conservation Institute (ICF).
Up until last August, exports totaled $2.7424 billion, compared to the same period of 2012 when $3.2627 billion was reported.
From a press release issued by the Central Bank of Honduras:
In August of this year, FOB exports of general merchandise amounted to $2.7424 billion, down $520.3 million compared to the figures from the same period in 2012.
Estimations for this year are that 300,000 troy ounces will be exported which equates to an increase of 16.5% compared to the amount sold in 2012.
The information was confirmed by Denis Lanzas, vice president of the Chamber of Mines of Nicaragua (Caminic). This year gold ranked as the number one export product, generating $362.16 million to date and replacing coffee which has generated revenues of $341.4 million.
Foreign sales of processed foods have grown 30% in the past five years and currently represent 15% of all exports.
According to Sofana Lopez, an International Markets Information analyst at the Center for Exports and Investment (CEI), coffee and beef products are the leading exports of food in general.
Elnuevodiario.com.ni reports: "... as for foods with higher degrees of processing, sugar for export stands out, accounting for approximately 30% of the total export value of processed food sector for the country in 2012 ". Shelled peanuts represented 17%, cheese 11%, soybean oil 8% , milk powder 6% and peanut oil 5% .
The Tax Authority (SAT) owes to domestic exporters about $313 million in tax credit refunds.
This was explained by the superintendent Carlos Muñoz, adding that "... this amount represents the backlog in tax credit refunds of Value Added Tax (VAT) to Exporters and there are cases which have been awaiting payment since 2011," noted an article in PrensaLibre.com.
Once the end of the 2013-2014 crop season has finished 1.2 million pounds of black beans will have been sold to Venezuela.
"A larger effort has been devoted to the production of black beans for export, due to the security afforded by the market agreement between the governments of Venezuela and Nicaragua," said the president of the National Union of Farmers and Ranchers (UNAG), Alvaro Fiallos, alluding to the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA).
Nicaragua is able to sell 10,163 metric tons duty free to the EU.
Altogether, the Central America's total export quota adds up to 150,000 tons.
Mario Salaverria, president of the Sugar Association of El Salvador said the decision to sell the sugar was due to "uncertainty about the problem they had with Italy and that delivery times won't allow them to make the most of this access."
The Guatemalan San Diego Mill exports through the Siepac electricity based on hydro power and bagasse.
The energy which is transported through infrastructure of the Electrical Interconnection System for Central America (Siepac) "... is derived from two sources, water and biomass obtained from the use of sugarcane bagasse", reported of S21.com.gt.
"Of the 8,500 megawatts of power required in the region, El Salvador consumes one thousand and has an estimated growth rate of 3.5%," said Ottoniel Alfaro, project manager.
Projections are of $159 million in exports by the 25 companies that make up the Nicaraguan tobacco industry.
Commercial and financial entities expect tobacco sales abroad to increase, with supply which includes world class cigars.
Prensa-latina.cu reports: "Central Bank calculations and the Directorate General of Customs Services state that industry sales (including the operations of those in free zones) could represent 4% of national exports in 2013."
During the 2013-14 harvest ending on October 31 490,000 metric tons of sugar were exported while in the previous harvest the amount was 412,000 MT.
According to the Sugar Association of El Salvador , the main destinations of the country's raw sugar are the USA, Chile, Russia, Taiwan and Canada. Meanwhile, the refined product is sold to the Netherlands, Chile, Taiwan and other Caribbean countries .
Exports in 2012 were $488.7 million, whereas in 2011 sales totaled $158.8 million.
With the signing of the trade agreement between Central America and the European Union figures are expected to increase further. 13.5% of Panamanian exports are destined for a European country and are surpassed only by South Korea and the U.S.
During the first nine months of 2013, exports totaled $1,9268 billion, while in the same period of 2012 they were $2.0703 billion.
The information was published by the Center for Export Procedures (CETREX), who reported that the volume of foreign sales suffered a decline of 2.1% between January and September, as last year 1,337,991.6 tons was reported and in the same period of 2012 there were 1,366,962.1 tons.