The livestock sector feels it is at a disadvantage in competing for and meeting demand. According to Gilberto Moreno, director of the Association of Ranchers and Farmers from Sula (Agas) the beef cattle segment, "at the moment is not exporting to Europe because the paperwork is not ready."

"We have no choice but to increase the production of beef cattle and for that the sector is being encouraged, increasing beef cattle fattening," said the official, who requested support from the Government to provide backing to the sector which is facing an alarming reduction in the herd.

However, the situation is even more complex for banana growers, because according to German Zepeda, director of the Coordinator of Banana Unions and Agroindustrialists of Honduras (COSIBAH), "Honduras is not exporting (bananas) to Europe."

Source: laprensahn.com

More on this topic

Lack of Traceability Penalizes Panamanian Exports

April 2013

This year Panama will stop the export of 1580 tons of beef to the European Union for failing to meet the requirement of implementing livestock traceability.

One requirement for Panama to export meat through the Treaty of the European Union with Central America, is for the country to have a traceability system, however, the project is being held up in Congress.

Honduras Handicapped by Lack of Tax Incentives

February 2013

Guatemala and Nicaragua offer better incentives to banana producers than Honduras.

An article in Prensalibre.com reports that the president of the Honduran Banana Unions Coordinator, German Zepeda, said: "The tax benefits offered by Nicaragua, for example, have attracted not only the textile industry, but also transnational agricultural producers. '

Cattle Ranchers Agree on EU Quotas

July 2010

Central American businessmen agreed to adjudicate the meat quota assigned by the European Union to the country that first complies with the required food safety and traceability requirements.

The region had to decide how to distribute a quota of 9.500 yearly tons of meat that can be shipped to Europe without paying tariffs.

Dispute over EU Meat Quota Allocation

July 2010

The proposal to divide up the 9,500 ton EU allocation equally is rejected by Nicaragua.

Onel Pérez, president of CANICARNE (Nicaraguan association of beef producers), commented that 70% of meat exported from Central America comes from Nicaragua.

Pérez and Ronald Blandón, director of Nicaraguan cattle farming association, CONAGAN, will travel to Honduras to discuss the distribution of the quota with other Central American businessmen.