Palm oil producers in the province of Chiriqui are demanding a revision of tariffs on imports of soybean oil.
Producers argue that soybean oil imported from Argentina is threatening local production of palm oil. Reportedly approximately 342,000 tons of palm oil are produced a year.
Victor Watts, president of the oil palm producers in Chiriqui, told Laestrella.com.pa that another threat is that "...
To compensate for the reduction in local production, the government plans to allocate $8.8 million for the purchase of 39,000 hundredweight of beans and 230,000 hundredweight of corn.
In the period from January to August 2014, the government imported maize from the United States and Mexico, and in the case of beans, 60% was purchased from the US, 20.3% from Canada, 11.4% from China, 6.7% from Nicaragua and the rest 1.5% from Argentina.
In order to ensure supply for the domestic market, the government has announced that it is negotiating grain imports from Colombia and Ethiopia.
Given the reduction in the harvest in the months of December 2013 and January 2014, the Government of Honduras has announced that it will resort to importing beans as part of a strategic plan to ensure supplies in the coming months.
Businessmen are complaining about a shortage of the grain in the market due to stricter phytosanitary measures designed to prevent the entry of beans with soil residues on them.
The National Chamber of Industrial Crops (CANINGRA) and the National Association of Bean Industrialists (ANIFRI) have separately warned that there could be supply shortages in the short term if the measure preventing the entry of products with soil residues coming into the country remains. In February and May the entry about 2,000 tons of red beans from Nicaragua was prevented for having breached this rule.
25 thousand tons of cucurbits were sold in Europe, the United States and Canada in the 2013-2014 agricultural season.
The price for a box of melons in presentation of 24 pounds was $13, a box of watermelon weighing 37 pounds cost $16, while a sack of pumpkins weighing 45 pounds was sold in international markets at $12. Overall, there was an increase of 13.6% in total shipments in the 2013-2014 season, compared with the previous agricultural cycle.
The fall in international prices and overproduction is negatively impacting sales of the seed harvested in Nicaragua.
In the U.S. market a quintal of chia is trading at $170 whereas it previously traded for $280. During the 2013-2014 cycle Nicaraguan growers harvested about 180,000 quintals, however, much of this crop had no advance purchase contracts and contractual undertakings from exporters are full.
Cucumber, zucchini and lemons have been grown inside transparent molds forming shapes such as hearts or stars.
From an article by the Costa Rican Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER):
The Spanish company Zayintec displayed cucumbers in the form of hearts and stars during a tasting, at the stand of the Diputación Provincial de Almería.
Cucumbers with heart and star shapes, grown in Almería with biological control techniques, are not only attractive because of their original appearance, but also because of their unique agronomic and organoleptic characteristics. For the development of this new line of cucurbits, Zayintec has implemented a process of innovation and improvement on a variety of the Persian cucumber, from the Middle East.
The disadvantage in terms of productivity and prices of Panamanian rice farmers against major world producers, has trapped producers, many of whom are abandoning the crop.
If this problem is not resolved, consequences will start to be felt. The country could stop planting about 20,000 hectares, said sources close to the sector.
The leader of the Rice Growers Association of Chiriqui (Apach), Carlos Santanach, said there are issues to be further discussed with the government such as financing, the use of irrigation, the rearrangement of imports and the adequacy of land.
The current harvest will not be in time to take advantage of peak consumption which occurs during Ramadan, which this year has been moved forward in the calendar.
An article in Elperiodico.com.gt reports that "Guatemala is the largest exporter of cardamom in the world and supplier to Middle Eastern countries, but this year it will not be able to take advantage of Ramadan, as India, the largest producer, has started its harvest last month. "
After 30 days without any rain, losses are expected which will require increased imports of grain in order to supply the needs of local consumption and agribusiness.
If the dry period is prolonged until August 25, as the national weather service is predicting, about seven thousand acres of rice will be lost, said Fredy Torres, representing producers of the grain. The representative estimated economic losses of nearly $7 million.
In the case of beans, the goal was to plant 110 thousand hectares, but 112,000 were planted. In corn, the number of hectares increased from 304,000 to 315,000.
From a press release from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry:
Production expectations in both beans and corn, are excellent assured the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Ariel Bucardo, during a meeting of the Bean Council, involving producers, exporters and government officials.
Coffee growers are counting on the production of more than 100 million quintals of top quality grain this harvest.
"Specialty coffee harvests are getting bigger and bigger. In this period we will have a good number of bags to serve such markets. We believe that exports will rise more than 100 million quintals", said Asterio Reyes, president of Ihcafé (the Honduran Coffee Institute) to Laprensa.hn.
In the 2011-2012 harvest, completed this month, a "historical record" of 54,330,445 quintals of sugar was harvested.
"It's a record", proclaimed Armando Boesche, general manager of the Sugar Association of Guatemala (Asazgua).
The union leader attributed the good performance to weather conditions which "for the current crop were favorable".
"Of the total harvest this year, it is expected that 34,700,000 quintals will be exported, the remaining product is intended for domestic consumption", reported Prensalibre.com.
Between January and March 2012 $304 million worth was exported and producers are expecting a bumper crop this year.
In the 2010-2011 harvest, there was 44.5 million bushels. Up tp May 13 the figure was 54.1 million, according to figures from the Association of Sugar Producers of Guatemala.
"Influencing the harvest was the fact that there was better weather than last year, rains were normal, no major natural disasters were reported, there was also more sunlight, a situation that buoyed up the sugar harvest," said Marco Augusto Garcia Noriega, president of the Asazgua.
The results of the 2011-2012 harvest will be 10% higher than the previous one, when the crop was affected by bad weather.
The harvest ending in May increased by seven million quintals, amounting to some 53 million bags of sugar, a figure that represents a recovery of 10%, said Marco Augusto Garcia Noriega, president of the Sugar Association of Guatemala (Asazgua).