The country's chicken producers estimate that they will close 2020 with a 1.3% decrease in sales, a drop that would be explained by the drop in orders from hotels and restaurants, establishments that operate partially due to the low presence of tourists.
The spread of covid-19 caused considerable damage to the tourism and restaurant sector, since the country's air connection was interrupted and up to now few tourists remain there.
Businessmen in the sector estimate that local chicken meat production has contracted between 6% and 8% since the crisis began in April last year.
Data from the Central Bank of Nicaragua detail that during 2018 the industrial production of chicken meat totaled 298 million pounds. In the case of production reported for this year, directors of the National Association of Poultry Producers and Food Producers (Anapa) explain that in the first five months of 2019 there was a 6% decrease in the volume produced, compared to the same period in 2018.
From August 21st to 23rd,2018, poultry sector entrepreneurs from the region and the Dominican Republic will be meeting in San Pedro Sula to take part in business meetings and discuss relevant issues for the sector.
The event is being organized by the National Association of Aviculturists of Honduras (ANAVIH), and will be held at the Copantl Convention Center, starting at 8 am on Tuesday, August 21.
Cargill has inaugurated a processing plant in Nicaragua that will have the capacity to sacrifice up to 14,000 birds per hour, and it required a $45 million investment.
The new plant, where cuts of whole chicken will be automated, will provide greater capacity for freezing and in line packaging.
From August 8 to 10, 2018, the Central American Poultry Congress will be held in San Pedro Sula, with the expected participation of around 2,500 producers from the region.
The event will be held at Expo Centro San Pedro Sula and is being organized by the National Association of Aviculturists of Honduras, as a member of the Federation of Aviculturists of Central America and the Caribbean (Fedavicac).
Annual per capita consumption of chicken meat in Central American countries increased from 19.8 kilos in 2008 to 25.9 kilos in 2016, and growth was driven mainly by Panama.
The upward trend in regional chicken meat consumption has been steady in recent years, growing from 814,000 tons in 2008 to 1.2 million tons in 2016.
With a $5 million investment a farm to fatten up chickens was inaugurated in León, and it is expected to produce about 3 million chickens a year.
The mixed capital poultry company (Nicaraguan and American) is called Castillo Poultry LLC and is located in the municipality of La Paz Centro, in León.
ProNicaragua reports that the company signed a production contract with Cargill from Nicaragua.
In 2016 countries in the region exported 41,208 tons of beef to the US, 7% more than in 2015.
Figures from the information system on the Fresh, Refrigerated and Frozen Beef Market in Central America, complied by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with the graph"]
By the end of the year the chicken meat processing plant that Cargill is building on the road to Masaya will be ready to start operating.
Representatives from the food processing company explained that the new plant, which is added to the current two with modern infrastructure and equipment, required an investment of $40 million.
The USA has agreed to reduce to 0% the tariff on chicken leg quarters imported from the US market for the Central American countries under DR-CAFTA.
The request to remove the tariff was made by Guatemala weeks ago. Chicken legs, both frozen and refrigerated, will enter the Central American market with 0% tariff when all the signatory countries of CAFTA-DR have completed the application process with the Department of Commerce.
The company Alba Foods of Nicaragua will close down in September as a result of a significant decline in sales to Venezuela.
Since the economic crisis in Venezuela has got worse, sales of the company by Alba Alimentos de Nicaragua S.A. have not stopped falling and the decision to close the operations of the food processing company is due to this situation.
The poultry industry in Nicaragua plans to initiate efforts to obtain certification so that its plants can start exporting chicken meat to the United States.
Since the certification process can take up to three years, the aim of the poultry industry is to start early in order to be ready to start exporting to the US market before the end of the period of tariff reduction set by the DR-CAFTA.
The Honduran firm Avinicsa has opened a chicken fattening farm in northern Mexico with an investment of $3.1 million and with capacity to produce 5.4 million kilos a year.
The company founded on Honduran Capital, Avinicsa, has announced the opening of a broiler farm in the municipality of Tipitapa (25 kilometers north of Managua) which will produce about 410,000 chickens a year.
Cargill has inaugurated a new cold storage and distribution plant southeast of Managua, with capacity to store up to 8 million pounds of chicken meat.
In addition to the new plant, in which $50 million were kkinvested, Cargill announced plans to invest $100 million over the next three years in three new projects, including a plant for shrimp food, in which it plans to invest $12 million.
In the first half the year slaughter went up by 6% compared to the same period in 2014, and the industry expects to end 2015 with an annual increase of 8%.
In the case of egg production the increase during the first half of the year compared to the same period of 2014 was 11%, according to figures from the Central Bank of Nicaragua. Data from the entity indicates that between January and June 2015 production amounted to 24.8 million dozen.