The Ministry of Economy found that Costa Rican Dos Pinos had dumped, but ruled out sanctions, arguing that no damage was caused to sales or local production.
The investigation process was carried out by the Ministry of Economy of El Salvador, derived from the complaint filed in 2017 by the Salvadoran Cooperativa Ganadera de Sonsonate, de RL de CV against the Costa Rican Cooperativa de Productores de Leche Dos Pinos and the local distributor Comersal.
Dos Pinos and Distribuidora Corripio invested $30 million in the construction of a plant that has an area of 8,500 square meters and a packaging capacity of 250,000 liters per day.
The Costa Rican Cooperative of Milk Producers Dos Pinos and Distribuidora Corripio, founded the Caribbean Dairy Group, being their first joint investment the construction of the new industrial plant, which will produce 50 varieties of dairy products, juices, nectars and soft drinks of the Dos Pinos and La Granja brands.
In El Salvador, the Ministry of Economy has started an investigation into alleged dumping practices, after Cooperativa Ganadera de Sonsonate filed a complaint against the Costa Rican company Dos Pinos.
The Ministry of Economy ordered an investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices in the dairy products market, specifically related to sales of fluid milk, in the period between July 1, 2016 and June 30, 2017.
The Latin American Bank for Foreign Trade has granted Dos Pinos a syndicated loan of $100 million over five years, for three of the companies belonging to the cooperative.
The loan to Cooperativa de Leche Dos Pinos was structured as a "Club Deal" between Bladex, Banco General, S.A. and Banistmo, S.A., who acted as co-structurers.Bladex also serves as the Administrative Agent at the facility.
The Costa Rican company Dos Pinos has confirmed that it has received verbal authorization to export its products to the neighboring country, with a written endorsement being imminent.
The milk cooperative Dos Pinos may have solved the nonconformity issues that led to the Nicaraguan Institute for Health and Agricultural Protection preventing entry of dairy products from this company to the local market.
The main dairy producers and exporters in the region are preparing for the beggining of operations in Nicaragua by the Mexican dairy plant Lala.
It is expected that by early 2015 the plant owned by the company Lala will start operating in Nicaragua, meaning that "... Competition for the Central American market over milk and its derivatives will be more intense. "
Loss of competitiveness in the region has been a constant factor in recent years due to problems in infrastructure, transportation and energy costs.
Although the sector's exports to Central America have maintained a relatively stable rate of growth, entrepreneurs say their products have lost competitiveness against the food industries in neighboring countries, due to the high costs of energy, transportation and infrastructure.
Technical regulations on the "General Principles of Good Food Manufacturing Practices" have been updated.
In December 2013, the Institute of Technical Standards of Costa Rica (Inteco) updated and approved a tool which establishes the controls and requirements for all processes in the food manufacturing chain.
From a press release issued by the Institute of Technical Standards of Costa Rica (Inteco):
Farmers expect the arrival of Dos Pinos to bring benefits and be an option for improving local production.
According to Fredy Ramirez, manager of Dos Pinos in Panama, the first thing they will do is help producers increase their production, believing that the country has great potential.
"... the aim is to help farmers produce triple what they produce now, hiring Panamanian and Costa Rican technicians at no cost to livestock producers, they will bring supplies and technical developments in order to achieve these goals," noted an article in Panamaamerica.com.pa.
The Costa Rican cooperative Dos Pinos plans to reduce the deficit of 110 million liters of milk registered in the country where 300 million liters is consumed a year.
The Costa Rican firm plans to invest $5 million per year for the next five years as part of its market expansion strategy to position itself in the Panamanian dairy industry.
Prensa.com reports: "The Costa Rican company will operate two plants in the country: one for pasteurized milk in Boqueron, and and one for Ultrapasteurized milk in Bugaba, Chiriqui. The latter works in conjunction with the producers of Cooleche".
The Costa Rican dairy cooperative Dos Pinos has opened in San Carlos a drying plant to make milk powder with capacity to process up to 40,000 liters per hour.
Elfinancierocr.com reports that "the new building, with an area of 4,800 square meters of construction, forms an integral part of the distribution center built on the same property with a value of $5.2 million."
The Dos Pinos Costa Rican dairy cooperative is negotiating the purchase of a plant in Nicaragua and is working on setting up another one in the Dominican Republic.
In an interview Nacion.com by Marvin Barquero with Rodolfo Barrantes, president of Dos Pinos, the official confirmed that the regional expansion strategy of the company is still moving forward.
Sigma Foods has bought the Costa Rican firm Productores de Monteverde, consolidating the second place in the country's dairy market.
The Mexican company gave no details as to the value of the purchase or the characteristics of the acquisition that took place on Monday, April 1, during a meeting of partners.
Among the companies who were interested in buying the company were: Dos Pinos, Florida and Sigma Alimentos.