The government has announced that companies certified as Authorized Economic Operators will have access to faster foreign trade procedures.
Companies interested in achieving this logistical facility in the trade of their products should register voluntarily as Authorized Economic Operators (OAS).
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Agriculture:
The European Union still has doubts over the presence of the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa in plants of the Phoenix variety and has rejected the request to allow their re-entry from Costa Rica.
In a meeting in which producers and exporters of ornamentals did not participate, the State Phytosanitary Service (SFE) put forward the"...
The departure of the director of the SFE could improve dialogue between authorities and agribusiness after months of confrontation over the imposition of non tariff barriers.
In a statement issued by the Ministry, the chief Luis Felipe Arauz said 'I, as Minister, asked her to resign.It is absolutely false that the deputy minister signed any certificates that were not inspected.She asked for, and I supported, a return to the system of inspections in packing plants and in the field, in this way strengthening controls in order to improve the issue of INTs in pineapples'."
Nacion.com reports that "...From yesterday afternoon, explained Arauz, controls on pineapple exports at the port were suspended and measures were streamlined in order to reinforce SFE staff carrying out inspections in the field with six officials from the MAG as well as a plan to train inspectors from companies in coordination with the United States Department of Agriculture. "
In relation to the conflict over the ban on imports of avocados from Mexico, the minister was clear that the situation remains the same."...After repeating several times that the dispute was only on the issue of changes in pineapple controls, minister Arauz said that support is being maintained for other controversial measures taken by the now former director of the SFE, such as the issue of Hass avocados."
The ban on Mexican avocado has led to an increase in imports from Chile, raising its wholesale price by more than 30%, and will cause shortages when locally produced supplies have been exhausted.
Protectionism for the Costa Rican production of avocados introduced by the Solis administration, arguing phytosanitary measures, achieved results that benefited local producers, such as increasing the price of the product and a decline in import volumes (13,061 tons in 2013 vs . 11,187 in 2015). But what is good for the local producer, is bad for consumers who are forced to pay more for the fruit, as well as seeing their right to choose what to consume violated, and eventually being prevented from simply consuming anything at all because there is no supply.
Warnings are being given of shortages in the market, after the Phytosanitary Service banned the import of the fruit from nine markets.
According to the director of the State Phytosanitary Service (SFE), at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), the decision to ban imports of avocados from Australia, Spain, Ghana, Guatemala, Israel, Mexico, South Africa, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and Florida, in the US, was taken to prevent the entry of the virus known as Sun Blotch, present in these markets. The Chamber of Importers of Perishables Products ensures that there will be a shortage because "... only 20% of total consumption (14,000 tonnes) are harvested in Costa Rica."