The blockade to the entrance of products of animal origin coming from Costa Rica to the Panamanian market, has derived in a commercial conflict in which both countries have their share of responsibility, since the authorities of both nations advocate for protectionist measures.
On July 10, 2020, Panama informed the National Animal Health Service (SENASA), an agency of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Costa Rica (MAG), about the decision not to extend the authorization for export to a list of Costa Rican establishments previously authorized and that have been commercializing in the Panamanian market for many years.
Mexico asks to inspect Costa Rican farms to determine if it is true that the sustain is not in the crops, to which local producers oppose.
In December 2018, the phytosanitary and livestock authorities of Costa Rica and Mexico agreed on a procedure to end almost four years of trade conflict, which arose from the barriers imposed on the entry of avocado to the Costa Rican market.
Authorities from both countries agreed that Costa Rica would accept avocado from Mexico, as long as it has a phytosanitary certificate indicating that the shipment is "symptom-free."
The State Phytosanitary Service (SFE) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) of Costa Rica, managed to agree in December 2018 with the new Mexican authorities, the procedure to end almost four years of trade conflict, which emerged from the barriers imposed on the entry of avocado to the Costa Rican market.
In Costa Rica, the government has decided to establish an additional tariff of 11.67% on imports of brown rice, for purchases exceeding 6,367 tons.
With this new protectionist measure taken by the government, which will apply from September 21 to December 31 of this year, the current tariff will increase from 35% to 46.67%.
After the government argued that "...the increase in imports of brown rice, is generating an increase in national inventories of rice, resulting in repeated and growing surpluses in the domestic market," it proceeded to implement the protectionist measure called Special Agricultural Safeguard (SGE).
If Costa Rican businessmen still had doubts about the direction to be taken by the new Alvarado administration in agricultural matters, the affirmations made by the newly-appointed minister of Agriculture and Livestock have managed to dissipate them completely.
EDITORIAL
"...'The position that I bring to the ministry is to protect national production, with all the legal and technical instruments provided to us by treaty frameworks ...We are going to be very jealous with entries, no matter what they are, with meats, with potatoes.There has been a lot of laxity, non compliance with the regulations," said Renato Alvarado, the ministry's new leader, to Nacion.com.
The delay in phytosanitation studies by the Ministry of Agriculture has stalled the process for starting imports of avocados from the Dominican Republic.
Even though it has been a month since the Chamber of Exporters and Importers of Perishable Goods asked to be able to start the process of importing avocados from the Caribbean island, a delay in carrying out a study on the part of the State Phytosanitary Service (SFE) has prevented this from happening.
The private sector is demanding homogeneity in the foreign trade strategy, since the situation today is that there is "one protectionist minister and another who works for free trade."
In the words of José Manuel Quirce, president of the Chamber of Importers of Costa Rica (Crecex), the Solis administration needs to focus on "... harmonizing approaches in foreign trade" in order to avoid having one agriculture ministry imposing nontariff barriers to protect local production, and at the other extreme another minister of foreign trade promoting free trade.
The country has been criticized for violating trade agreements and placing phytosanitary barriers on trade using political-ideological and non-technical justifications.
EDITORIAL
Having entrusted the management of the Ministries of Economy and Commerce and Agriculture and Livestock -and linked institutions - to a group of officials who believe in their own last century protectionist model - and going against openness to the world practiced by the country in the last 20 years, and who were also openly opposing the Central American Free trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States, the Solis administration has made sure that there will be recurrent conflicts related in trade of agro-industrial products to the Northern nation, Costa Rica's main trading partner.
A request by the National Rice Corporation for a protectionist trade measure is being analyzed by the government.
The Costa Rican government is discussing the possible application of a safeguard measure on imports of rice from Argentina and Uruguay. The measure was requested by the National Rice Corporation (Conarroz).
"The review process has been started and now we will wait and see.
Although the country is a major consumer of avocados, only 10% is produced domestically, with $20 million worth being imported every year.
From a press release issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG):
The Minister of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), Gloria Abraham Peralta and Deputy Minister Tania Lopez Lee opened on July 23 the IV Latin American Congress on Avocados, Costa Rica 2013, home to more than 300 participants who consisted of producers, researchers , traders and the general public, who sought expand and share experiences on the culture.
Starting from May 1st new regulations in China came into force which govern inspection, quarantine and supervision of imports and exports of dairy products.
From an article by the Costa Rican Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER):
The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China (AQSIQ by its acronym in English) recently released two statements, which regulate Decree No.
The high demand from consumers has forced distributors to increase the import of this product.
While this is happening, oversupply in the local production of fresh potatoes is deteriorating domestic production. According to Fabian Segura, president of the Costa Rican Chamber of Potato Growers, there is an oversupply as a result of over-seeding, but what is having the biggest effect is the preference for frozen pre-fried potatoes.
Costa Rican cacao is the finest in the world, but the country lacks the technology to process it, and the chocolate consumed is mostly imported.
According to an article in Elfinancierocr.com, "Two projects developed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE by its initials in Spanish) have focused since 2007 on increasing the quantity and quality of crops" This has allowed a rise in cultivation and production of cocoa, which after the attack of a pest in the 80s, was practically nil.
Producers are complaining about the government’s unfulfilled promises to place their crops in the market, and demanding an end to rice imports.
Producers in the Guanacaste area are protesting again, demanding that the government respects a promise agreed last November, which, according to the rice growers, would resolve the placement of more than five thousand tons of rice which has been stored in dry silos, both public and private, since September 2011.
The signing of the agreement between the government, representatives of the rice sector and growers puts an end to the conflict caused by administrative price-fixing.
The new agreement guarantees that 100% of the 2011 harvest (53,000 hectares) will be purchased from rice growers by the industrial sector.
One of the key points of the agreement, signed on Thursday 3 November, is that the Costa Rican government promises to implement measures to prevent unfair competition in national rice markets.
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