Colombian SMEs see an opportunity to position themselves in Central America, alongside the corporations from that country that have already landed in the region.
Examples are Sirius and Cosméticos Bachué, two companies out of the nearly 200 SMEs interested in finding a place for their products in Central America and the Caribbean.
"Alvaro Gomez, director of the trade office Proexport in Costa Rica, said the country needs to double its power generation levels over the next eight years. This opens up great opportunities for electrical companies, like Sirius, in a country which in 2012 exported goods and services worth $274.4 million," noted an article in Elcolombiano.com.
On March 18 a business conference on forestry will take place, which will bring together sustainable timber producers and potential clients at both the national and international level.
From a press release published by the National Environmental Authority (ANAM):
A business conference on responsible wood use will be held in Panama on March 18 in order to establish a relationship and promote linkages between the different actors involved in timber production, especially that being undertaken in Darien.
The Ministry of Education in El Salvador is putting out to tender the purchase and distribution of school furniture for schools in the BIRF Project.
The purpose of the tender is to provide school furniture for 128 Schools in six municipalities, three departments, and thereby contribute to their renovation and conversion into adequate and safe spaces for learning in the education centers in the Integrated System for Inclusive Full Time Schools.
Professionals, producers, traders, academics and manufacturers and consumers of wood, came together to promote the best use of the material.
This Thursday the ‘Instituto Costarricense de la Madera’ was officially launched, an entity which will promote the use of the material in the construction sector, and in scientific and technical arenas.
The Costa Rican Institute of Wood (Icomadera), was formed in December 2012 with the participation of professionals, producers, traders, academics and manufacturers and consumers of wood, with the aim of promoting the use of wood in the construction industry .
A voluntary agreement is already underway with the European Union to reduce trade in timber goods made from illegal logging.
The first round of negotiations have been conducted on a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) with the EU, and the FLEGT (Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade) in order to reduce trade in manufactured goods made from illegal timber logging.
The National Forestry Bureau has presented a report on the uses and contributions of timber, statistics 2011, which includes the latest study on timber prices.
From the Executive Summary of the report of the National Forestry Office (ONF):
In order to collect the data we created a census with industries that are part of the ONF database, taking into consideration a total population of 273 primary processing timber industries.
The Ministry of Health of El Salvador requires reagents, supplies, equipment, measuring instruments, glassware, and office and clinical furniture for Microbiology Laboratory operations.
The purpose of the tender is the acquisition of:
Medical equipment:
When there aren’t sufficient assets to use as collateral for bank financing, producers are registering their crops in the "Registro de Garantías Mobiliarias" (Movable Collateral Registry - RGM).
Prensalibre.com reports that "Of the 400 entries of movable items from January to November in the RGM, at the Ministry of Economy (Mineco), more than 150 correspond to crops of gold and pergamine coffee.”'
The commercial boom in the country is attracting new entrants in the furniture market, forcing incumbent firms to increase investment in order to compete.
The company Diksa, with an investment of nearly half a million dollars, inaugurated a 1,200 square meter showroom in Tibás and plans to open three new stores in 2013, in Desamparados, Heredia and Alajuela.
The Guatemala Forest Group consists of seven companies that manufacture products such as doors, furniture and bamboo veneers.
In an article in Siglo21.com.gt the entrepreneur and member of the Commission of Furniture Manufacturers and Forest Products (Cofama), Gerardo Gandara, said: "We have a fairly wide range of wood products and are joining forces to promote ourselves commercially abroad in the best way possible".
The Ministry of Health in El Salvador is putting out to tender the purchase of medical, clinical laboratory, dental, and computer equipment, and office furniture for sixty-eight health centers.
The purpose of the tender is to provide sixty-eight health centers with basic medical equipment, clinical laboratory equipment, dental equipment, medical and dental instruments, physiotherapy equipment, computer equipment, clinical furniture, office furniture, general cleaning supplies, equipment for support services, industrial safety equipment, office equipment, audio equipment and recording equipment.
Six consortia have presented bids for $10 million for the refurbishment of the Immigration and Customs area.
The least expensive bids were by the consortia Landscape Vision Corp. and Remodelación Sector Migración for $8.87 million.
Meanwhile the bid by the consortium Ceinsa y SC Aeropuerto was $8.88 million and the rest were over $9 million.
Prensa.com reports that, "Ramon Zambrano, project manager of Tocumen SA, explained that the work will take about eight months. Upon completion it will allow the handling of the volume of passengers for the next three years, when construction of the south terminal is expected to be finished.
El Salvador is putting out to tender the supply of medical equipment, medical furniture and computer equipment for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Benjamin Bloom National Children’s Hospital.
The contest is for the acquisition of basic medical equipment, instruments, office furniture, computer and telephone equipment for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Benjamin Bloom National Children’s Hospital.