The increase in the international prices of corn and soybeans, inputs used to produce animal feed, threatens to put upward pressure on the production costs of meat, eggs and dairy products.
In recent months, the international price of a bushel (27 kilos) of soybeans increased by 28%, from $10.6 to $13.62, between November 1, 2020 and January 28, 2021.
Mexico asks to inspect Costa Rican farms to determine if it is true that the sustain is not in the crops, to which local producers oppose.
In December 2018, the phytosanitary and livestock authorities of Costa Rica and Mexico agreed on a procedure to end almost four years of trade conflict, which arose from the barriers imposed on the entry of avocado to the Costa Rican market.
If Costa Rican businessmen still had doubts about the direction to be taken by the new Alvarado administration in agricultural matters, the affirmations made by the newly-appointed minister of Agriculture and Livestock have managed to dissipate them completely.
EDITORIAL
"...'The position that I bring to the ministry is to protect national production, with all the legal and technical instruments provided to us by treaty frameworks ...We are going to be very jealous with entries, no matter what they are, with meats, with potatoes.There has been a lot of laxity, non compliance with the regulations," said Renato Alvarado, the ministry's new leader, to Nacion.com.
Sectors related to metal mechanics, tires, plastics, chemicals and electrics in Costa Rica have asked for their products to be excluded in the negotiation of a regional trade agreement with the Asian tiger.
The industrial and agricultural sectors are those who have objected in the process for negotiation of a free trade agreement with South Korea, arguing that some products would be hurt by the arrival of similar products from China.
Imports of pork from Chile have grown and local pork producers are asking the government for actions to be taken to protect them from the competition.
Problems of competitiveness are emerging for some sectors of the Costa Rican agro/livestock production, as entrepreneurs from other countries with which it has free trade agreements -in this case Chile - are taking advantage of opportunities provided by those treaties.
Pork producers in Costa Rica are complaining that they are trying to directly export pork to Asian markets, but slaughterhouses "only want the business for themselves."
Porcicultor industry entrepreneurs are trying to open new markets, especially in countries with which Costa Rica has signed trade agreements, but are complaining that slaughterhouses have rejected their applications for processing meat, sometimes citing lack of certifications and in other cases, because " ... 'What slaughterhouses want is customers and to keep paying low prices to producers"," said the Speaker of the Chamber of Pork Producers, Renato Alvarado to Elfinancierocr.com ."
Warnings have been issued that a projected health license suspension for transport in border areas could encourage smuggling of pigs from Nicaragua.
The Costa Rican Chamber of Pork Producers believes that the proposal to remove the sanitary license for the movement of pigs in the north will encourage smuggling from Nicaragua. This measure was included in the negotiations between producers, particularly of cattle, in the north and authorities from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG).
The Japanese market for pork, organ meats, sausages and pork derivatives coming from Costa Rica has reopened.
The next step in the process is identifying companies interested in exporting pork products to the Asian nation.
From a press release issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock:
"After a process that began in 2012 under the framework of the objectives of the National Swine Commission, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan recently announced to the authorities of the National Animal Health Service (SENASA) at the Ministry of Agriculture, that this country recognizes the status of Costa Rica as a country free of swine fever and has reopened its market not only pork, but also offal and other derivatives as well as pork sausages."
One by one the main leaders of Costa Rican business associations have expressed their appreciation and optimism for the agreements reached with the Chinese government.
The Costa Rican business sector believes that the decisions taken by the Governments of Costa Rica and China will help, directly or indirectly, the Costa Rican economy.
According to Alvaro Saenz, president of the Chamber of Agribusiness, "with China even if you have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), if you dont have health care protocols, products can not enter, so it is very important to have signed these protocols and have ratified them so that access is granted. "
The Costa Rica Chamber of Pork Producers is taking Walmart to the Commission for the Promotion of Competition (CPC) for alleged monopolistic practices.
The Chamber’s measure is based on an alleged drop in prices of pork cuts at levels below market value, reports Nacion.com.
The Speaker of the House, Renato Alvarado said an inspection of prices was conducted in different supermarkets belonging to the chain, confirming that the practice of lower prices was observed in places where the producer wants to go 'vertical' (participating in all stages of chain from production to slaughter).
Producers reported pork imports from Chile with prices up to 50% lower than national prices.
The National Chamber of Pork Producers stated this situation has been going on for a couple of years and was reported to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Foreign Trade.
The president of National Pork Producers, Renato Alvarado said "documentation is being put together from Chile so that a connection between local prices in this country and those offered in Costa Rica are compared. If they are offered at prices lower than production costs, it can constitute unfair competition," Nacion.com reports.
Per capita consumption of pork increased from 8.9kg in 2004 to 11.6kg in 2009, an increase of 33%.
Renato Alvarado, president of the Chamber of Pork Producers, indicated that last year was the best of the previous five.
"Pork producers report that 45,000 pigs were slaughtered in 2009 for the Costa Rican domestic market. This year that figure has risen to 55,000," Alvarado told La Nacion.