Twelve months after Central America began a health and economic crisis triggered by the covid-19 outbreak, Guatemala was the fastest recovering economy and Panamanian economic activity is the slowest to return to pre-pandemic levels.
In March 2020, the first cases of covid-19 began to be detected in the countries of the region. The highly contagious disease, which at that time had already claimed the lives of thousands of people around the world, forced Central American governments to establish mobility restrictions.
After reports of flying locusts entering Guatemala from the border area with the Yucatan, Mexico, Salvadoran authorities have declared themselves on alert because of the threat they could represent to local crops.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) is prepared to face the threat of a flying locust (Schistocerca piceifrons piceifrons) that could cause damage or loss to crops in our territory, details an official statement dated January 12, 2021.
Scheduling medical checkups for the staff, preparing the housing modules to maintain social distance and adapting the logistics of transporting people are challenges that the sugar mills will face during the 2020-2021 harvest.
The sugar cane harvest that is about to begin represents a source of employment for thousands of people in the region and in this context of the propagation of covid-19, the companies will have to face multiple challenges to get the harvest going.
In the context of the economic crisis, it is estimated that companies in Central America have reduced the working hours of employees to an average of 32 hours per week.
As a result of the spread of covid-19 in the countries of the region and the imposition of strict home quarantines, demand for products and services has fallen considerably in most markets.
Using technology to measure the flow of visitors, reducing the furniture available in the food courts and implementing product deliveries in the parking area are part of the changes that the region's shopping centers must apply in this new reality.
Because of the threat of the spread of covid-19, since mid-March in Central America, the authorities agreed to close the shopping centers.
It is estimated that the increase in online sales and the greater trend towards telecommuting will result in a lower demand for commercial premises and offices, exerting downward pressure on the price level of rents in the long term.
The quarantines decreed in the Central American countries because of the covid-19 outbreak, have caused a transformation in the operations of the companies, in the ways of working and in the models of business and sales.
Including the respective prevention protocols to avoid the spread of the virus, cinemas, beauty salons, auto parts sales, non-contact sports training centers, gyms and swimming schools will be able to open to the public as of May 1st in Costa Rica.
The protocols must be constructed between the institutions and the respective sectors, who may send their proposals to the Ministry or Executive Presidency as appropriate, reported the Ministry of Health.
Increased demand for cleaning products, the use of e-commerce as a purchasing channel and the preference for functional foods are some of the new trends that will prevail in the medium and long term, once the pandemic is overcome.
According to a study prepared by the Foreign Trade Promoter of Costa Rica (Procomer), the outbreak of covid-19 has caused changes in consumer behavior and to take advantage of the opportunities one must begin to understand those that will come after the pandemic is overcome.
Given the crisis in the region, businessmen in Guatemala report that smuggling of Mexican products has increased, while in Panama, beer producers attribute the rise in illegal trade in alcoholic beverages to the dry law.
With the spread of Covid-19, governments in Central America have decreed mandatory quarantines and have also restricted the movement of consumers at certain hours.
Hugo App, a platform for home delivery services, is one of the companies that accelerated its growth due to the mobility restrictions that have been decreed in the countries of the region because of the health crisis.
In order to contain the spread of covid-19, governments in Central America have decreed mandatory quarantines and restricted the movement of consumers at certain times.
Butter, baby diapers, surface cleaners, and wheat and corn flour are some of the products most demanded by Guatemalan households in this context of quarantine and social isolation.
Yogurt, tuna, processed beans, cookies, rice and toilet paper are the other items that complete the list of ten more products bought by families in Guatemala in this new commercial reality, resulting from the health emergency caused by the outbreak of covid-19.
The restrictions on mobility decreed in the region open up new opportunities for sales points such as small self-service shops, grocery stores and corner shops, which can make use of home delivery service schemes to boost their sales in this context.
In the current context of health crisis, large supermarket chains have implemented safety and hygiene protocols, which force consumers to assume long waiting times to do their shopping.
In the current complicated context, companies must reconsider their strategies so as not to fall into the error of making aggressive discounts, since they could affect the positioning of their products in the medium and long term.
Ariel Baños, a specialist in price management and founder of Fijaciondeprecios.com, explains some of the important conditions that must be considered when deciding to make discounts in an environment of high uncertainty such as that which has generated the current crisis of covid-19.
Within this context of health emergency, the mobility restriction measures decreed by the governments have forced people to change their consumption habits, a situation that forces companies to look for ways to deliver the products to their customers.
In order to adapt to this new economic reality and derived from the outbreak of covid-19 in Central American countries, companies have been forced to rely on marketing channels that until a few weeks ago were not among the most important in their commercial strategy.
Once the economies of Central America begin to relax the restrictions that have been adopted to prevent the spread of covid-19, sales of lotions and perfumes are predicted to decline by at least 4%.
Using a demand-income sensitivity model developed by the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData, it is possible to project the variations that household demand for different goods and services will undergo as the most critical phases of the spread of covid-19 are overcome and the measures restricting mobility in the countries of the region are lifted.
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