As a result of the imbalance reported in world trade flows due to the pandemic, Nicaraguan coffee producers have been affected by the shortage of containers facing the country.
In the department of El Paraíso, a high-tech plant was inaugurated that will be dedicated to the production and processing of coffee products and specialty coffees.
The plant is located in Teupasenti and is called BioFortune. A $1 million investment was required and it has controlled fermentation and dehydration equipment.
In Costa Rica, the business sector is opposed to a proposed law that would give Icafé the power to impose requirements and controls on the processes of supplying the raw material necessary for grain production.
Because of the lack of investment in recent years in the maintenance of the coffee park, in the first three months of the current harvest in El Salvador a 46% year-on-year drop in the volume of coffee production is reported.
Figures from the Salvadoran Coffee Council (CSC) indicate that from October to December 2019, nearly 358,000 quintals of coffee have been harvested, a volume that is lower than the 668,000 quintals produced in the same period in 2018.
During the first six months of 2019, coffee exports from Central American countries totaled $1.782 million, 8% less than what was reported for the same period in 2018.
Figures from the Trade Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with graphics"]
On March 26 and 27, 2020, the "Producer & Roaster Forum" will be held in Copán Honduras, an event in which at least 100 international coffee buyers will participate and business deals for nearly $10 million are projected to be closed.
The organization of the event reported that the plan is to promote the six coffee regions of the country and that since mid-2019 is working with producers to make filters of the coffees that will be presented at the event.
With the implementation of the new technical regulations on the quality of roasted and ground coffee for marketing in the national and international markets, coffee growers in El Salvador expect to sell at better prices.
The technical regulation is in the public hearing phase on the site of the Salvadoran Agency for Technical Regulation (Osartec), a process that will end on 17 February, and will then be presented to the coffee sector.
The increase to $135 of the international price of the quintal is promising for the coffee sector, since in recent years producers have gone through severe crises because of the fall in the price of the grain.
According to figures from Bloomberg Markets, between mid-November and the first week of December the price of a quintal of coffee at the international level registered an important upturn, going from $100 to $135.
The Guatemalan exporters' guild made available to specialty coffee producers the digital platform CoffeVerse, which is focused on expanding business opportunities and markets.
The platform that was presented by the Guatemalan Association of Exporters (Agexport) includes a geolocation data of farms and it is expected that in the coming months the system will include details of the producing farms.
Natural or legal persons who wish to register as exporters with the Honduran Coffee Institute will no longer have to comply with the requirement to prove a minimum share capital of $1 million.
Directors of the Honduran Coffee Institute (Ihcafe) reported that the market commission had been managing the proposal since 2018, which was already approved by the National Coffee Council (Conacafé).
The Central American Bank for Economic Integration approved a loan, which will be used to finance a program to renovate the country's coffee farm.
The financing is destined to the renovation of the coffee park of the country, through the substitution of plants damaged by plagues and diseases or with greater age that allows to revert the losses of productivity by the aging of the plantations and the effects of the rust, estimating the renovation of approximately 19.9% of the coffee park of Guatemala, informed the financial entity.
During the first three months of the year, coffee exports from Central American countries totaled $747 million, 17% less than what was reported for the same period in 2018.
Figures from the Trade Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with graphic"]
The Ortega administration rejected the request of Nicaraguan coffee growers, who requested that the tax of one dollar per quintal exported be waived for the 2020-2021 harvest.
The decision to start charging from next year was published by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce (Mific) in the October 15, 2019 edition of La Gaceta.
The funds collected from the producers will be managed by the National Commission for the Transformation and Development of Coffee Culture (Conatradec), as stipulated in the Law for the Transformation and Development of Coffee Culture, which was amended in August 2019.
In markets such as North America and Western Europe, a consumer segment wants the grain to meet aspects such as ethical and sustainable sourcing, and its production process to be certified.
According to the study "Trends and Opportunities for value-added coffee exports" conducted by the Differentiated Coffees Committee of AGEXPORT, reveals how to change the strategies for marketing good quality coffee with higher value added (roasted), for the next coffee harvest of 2,019 - 2,020 and those to come.