Since Costa Rica suspended the entry of Hass avocado from Mexico, countries such as Chile, Peru and Nicaragua have taken advantage of the situation to increase their exports to the Costa Rican market.
The dispute that is still unresolved dates back several years, when in May 2014 the Costa Rican authorities decided to ban the import of avocado from Mexico, arguing the existence of the disease called sunspot. See history of the conflict.
Despite the fact that in December it was announced that a WTO panel would be formed to solve Mexico's complaint against Costa Rica, this was only established on May 16 and in the next few days’ meetings will begin to set the calendar for the process.
The unresolved conflict dates back several years, in May 2014, when Costa Rican authorities decided to ban the import of avocado from Mexico, arguing the existence of the disease called sunspot.
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.
The WTO was part of the panel of experts that will resolve Mexico's lawsuit against Costa Rica, arising from the barriers imposed by the Costa Rican authorities to import the fruit.
The trade conflict emerged because of the barriers that Costa Rica imposes since 2014 to the entry of avocado from Mexico. Because the dispute remains unresolved, the authorities of the North American country requested last November 27 to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to submit the case to an arbitration panel.
Because of the problem of the barriers that Costa Rica has imposed since 2014 to the entry of avocado from Mexico remains unsolved, the Mexican authorities asked the WTO to refer the case to an arbitration panel.
Following the same strategy that they used to block the entry of Mexican avocados, in Costa Rica local producers of the fruit now want to prevent imports coming in from Peru.
Producers from the Los Santos area say that the avocados entering the country from Peru are contaminated with the Sunblotch plague, and asked the State Phytosanitary Service to close the Costa Rican market to the Peruvian fruit.
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.
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