A project is being promoted for price risk management in order to reduce losses caused by constant changes in the international price of grain.
The Association of Producers and Exporters in Nicaragua (APEN) together with the Agricultural Exchange, SA (Bagsa) is promoting a digital platform on which producers can consult the international prices of their products and the development of a hedging instrument, ie insurance against falling prices.
Subsidies on exports to India and improvement in the competitiveness of Brazilian sugar, caused by devaluation of the real, explain part of the decline in international coffee prices.
The union of sugar producers in Honduras states that the country currently loses between $25 and $40 per hundredweight exported to the international market, on average a total of $40 million.
In January the consumer price index recorded a negative change of 0.25%, explained by the reduction in the category of Transportation, Recreation and Culture and Food & Beverage.
From a report by the Central Bank of Nicaragua:
Monthly inflation in January closed -0.25% (0.73% in December 2014), mainly explained by lower prices for some goods and services in the divisions of transport (-2.72%); recreation and culture (-3.99%); and food and non-alcoholic beverages (-0.11%) , which together contributed -0.394% to the observed variation. In contrast, the division of restaurants and hotels showed the opposite behavior with a variation of 0.71% (0.073%).
In November, the consumer price index recorded a rise of 1.39%, placing accumulated inflation since January at 6.50%.
From the inflation report by the Central Bank of Nicaragua:
November's monthly inflation rate stood at 1.39% (0.45% in December 2013), mainly determined by the behavior of prices in the divisions of food and non-alcoholic drinks; restaurants and hotels; and recreation and culture, which together contributed 1.50% to the observed variation. In contrast, the transport division saw a fall of 1.87%.
Projections are that next year's global grain production will remain insufficient to meet the growing demand, raising the international price to historically high levels.
In the international market the price of cocoa reported a 10% increase up to September this year, reaching $3.39 per ton of grain in the stock market in New York. It is expected that this trend will continue in 2015 due to high demand for the product.