Region to Share Market Information on Tropical Fruits
The project will support the standardization of methods to collate prices for fruits and other trading variables, with the aim of improving market intelligence in Central America.
Monday, October 3, 2011
A press release by American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture reads:
Central America, Panama, Belize and the Dominican Republic will share, on a regional platform, information emanating from the markets regarding its tropical fruits, in order to increase the competitiveness of the productive sector and identify export opportunities for agribusiness.
In two workshops held in Costa Rica, those in charge of the Information Systems for Agricultural Markets (SIMA in Spanish) of these countries shared tools and methodologies to analyze trends, risks and threats facing the marketing of fruit in the region. This analysis was done to facilitate decision making in business and politics.
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Berries, cherries and citrus fruits, fruits that due to their vitamin C content are generally associated with positive effects on the immune system, reported increases in sales in the US and European markets during March, April and May 2020.
In this context of new consumption habits, which emerged worldwide due to the outbreak of covid-19, banana sales (due to its high potassium content and its contributions to health) have been extremely positive.
Of the 2 million hectares of land estimated to be available for agricultural crops, only 40,000 are dedicated to fruit production.
Because of its climate and quality of soil, Panama has great potential for growing tropical fruits, such as mango, papaya, pineapple, avocado, coconut and citrus.However, the country's agricultural capacity is not being fully exploited.A report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that in order to take better advantage of these conditions, "...integration of fruit chains needs to be improved in order to take advantage of the agro - ecological, logistical advantages and the geographical position Panama has."
New consumption habits in developed markets are creating new opportunities for fruits such as mangosteen, dragon fruit, soursop, passion fruit, gooseberry, ipecac, pejibaye and starfruit.
From a report by PROCOMER, Costa Rica entitled "Emerging opportunities in sales of agricultural products"
The economic crisis is forcing North American tropical fruit suppliers to lower prices.
Suppliers of wintertime produce from Central America and the Caribbean are finding that in the economic downturn they have to lower prices in order to keep customers.
Larry Leighton, president of Caribbean Fruit Connection Corp., Miami, said an added business challenge arises for suppliers intent on providing high quality, pricier products to customers who are willing to sacrifice quality for price.
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