Of the major producers in the region, Nicaragua was the most affected, having exported 64% less in the first four months of the harvest.
Except for Brazil coffee exports from nine countries in Latin America fell by 8% during the first four months of the harvest which began in October compared with the same period of the previous cycle. Nicaragua was the most affected with a fall of 64 % in sales of the grain.
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.
The coffee cycle closed 2012-13 with sales of $650 million less than in the previous cycle.
This was announced by the Coffee Exporters Association of Honduras (Adecafeh). Among the largest Honduran grain buyers are Germany and Belgium, followed by the the U.S., Japan and Korea, said Miguel Pon, Adecafeh's manager.
"The harvest was down 24% compared to last year, representing nearly 1.7 million quintals," he said.
During the first ten months of the 2012-13 crop, coffee sales fell by 41.4% in currencies and 15.6% in volume.
According to the manager of the Honduran Coffee Institute (Ihcafé), Victor Hugo Molina, coffee exports between October 2012 and July 2013 were $763.8 million, whereas last season revenues were reported of $1,034 million.
In terms of the volume exported during the period, 5.4 million quintals of grain were sold, a decrease of 15.5% compared to the previous cycle, when the amount was 6.4 million.
During the first six months of 2013 the country sold $2.15 billion abroad, $325.7 million less than in the same period of 2012.
An article Laprensa.hn reports that "the value of coffee exports fell from $1.03 billion to $630.4 million, or $395.8 million less, which is explained by the fall in international which prices went from $206.79 to $140.08 per quintal."
Exports totaled $7.676 billion in the first quarter of 2013, a decrease of 3.3% compared to exports in the same period last year.
From the executive summary of the report entitled "Central American Foreign Trade Bulletin January-March 2013" by SIECA:
Exports from the region reached an FOB value of U.S. $7.6757 billion during January to March 2013, observing a negative annual growth of 3.3% over exports recorded in the same period last year (U.S. $ 7.9366 billion).
The Honduras sugar guild expects that the delay in the approval of the Association Agreement with the European Union will affect exports.
Carlos Melara, president of the Association of Sugar Producers of Honduras said that sugar exports will only start in June.
"Although there were projections for exports of 19,464 metric tons, only half of that will be will possible because they only have six months in which to negotiate," noted an article in Latribuna.hn.
The financial crisis affecting Europe has resulted in low prices for melons and watermelons.
So says Alexis Bravo, president of the Nontraditional Agribusiness Group in Panama (Grantap), at the end of the XX International Congress of Producers and Exporters of Melons and Watermelons, held in Panama.
"... The European market prospects remain good, but ...
The sum of exports from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Colombia and Peru was lower by 2.28% compared to the same period in the previous harvest.
From the National Coffee Association (Anacafe):
The Guatemalan Anacafé outlined in a statement that their exports of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Colombia and Peru totaled 20,709,455 bags of 60 kilos from October 2011 to last June .
The amount of mangoes sold in Germany in the first three months of 2012 compared with the same period in the previous two years, fell by more than half.
A statement from PROCOMER reads:
Mango sales have collapsed in Germany. The amount of mangoes sold in Germany in the first three months of 2012 compared to the same period in the previous two years fell by more than half, according to the German Association Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (AMI).
Layoffs in the textile industry have been announced after projections of a 10% decline in its exports.
The industry is feeling the impact of the economic recession with a decline in orders from its main market, the U.S., said the president of the Honduran Maquila Association, Daniel Facussé.
An article in Proceso.hn reports that, "according to Facussé, several assembly plants have been forced to make redundancies and others are calling for discontinuations.
While the demand from the global market grows, pests, rainfall and other factors are depleting crops in a number of major sugar producing countries.
In Guatemala the 2010-2011 sugar harvest that ended on April 30 reported a total of 29.2 million quintales being exported, 7.6 million less than in the previous period which was 36.8 million.
For its part, the Sugar Association of Guatemala (ASAZGUA) reported a decrease of 12.5% in production.
The combined exports of the 2009-10 harvests for the nine countries in Latin America have fallen 10.15%.
Total exports from Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru were 21,768,415 sacks weighing 60kg each according to Guatemala's National Coffee Association (Anacafé).
"Anacafé indicates that this statistic represents a worldwide reduction of 10.15% relative to exports during the previous harvest which totalled 24,226,650 sacks," reports Sigloxxi.com.
Honduras was the worst-hit (-26.15%), while Nicaragua the least (-16.06%).
Data from Sieca shows that Central America exported 10% less to the rest of the world in 2009 than in 2008. Imports fell even more, 24.3% when compared to 2008.
In El Salvador, trade with the rest of the world contracted 20.18%, in Costa Rica 18.9% and in Guatemala 17.99%.
From January up to September, trade between Central American countries summed $8.01 billion, 16.8% less than the same period of 2008.
According to data from Sieca, the Central American Economic Integration Secretary, intra-regional trade summed $9.63 billion between January and September 2008.
"Luis Godoy, executive director of the Guatemalan Exporters Association, attributed the reduction to the U.S.