Alcoholic beverages, technological equipment and chemical products are some of the products most affected by the disappearance of containers which has been denounced by the union of importers in Costa Rica.
The Costa Rican Chamber of Importers has expressed its concern at the "extreme" security measures which have to be taken to ensure that containers with imported goods reach their destination without being stolen in transit.Its director, Katherine Chaves, told Diarioextra.com that in some cases the containers disappear from thestorage zones.
Customs Union between Guatemala and Honduras passes implementation phase after submission of the Enabling Protocol to SICA.
From a statement issued by the Secretariat of Central American Economic Integration:
Central, 4 May 2016. The Republics of Guatemala and Honduras, accompanied by the Secretariat of Central American Economic Integration (SIECA), officially delivered the Enabling Protocol for the Deep Integration Process into the free transit of goods and individuals between the two countries, for its submission to the General Secretariat of the Central American Integration System (SICA).
Guatemala carriers have blocked passage through customs posts at Pedro de Alvarado, Jutiapa, in protest against the excessive slowness of procedures for entering El Salvador.
The slowness of customs formalities as a result of the computer system crash caused some 300 carriers to form a blockade using their trucks from Sunday February 28th on the route to the customs office in Ciudad Pedro de Alvarado, located in Moyuta, in the Guatemalan department of Jutiapa, on the border with El Salvador.
The Government and the union agreed to meet in the coming days to resolve complaints made by the industry, which resulted in two days of strikes and business losses of at least $10 million.
The blockade by truckers on the border between Costa Rica and Panama, organized by the National Chamber of Cargo Transportation (Canacarga) and the Truckers Union of Chiriqui (Sicachi), was suspended on the night of February 16, after a party from the Government of Panama went from the capital to the province of Chiriqui.
The union has exhausted dialogue with the regional government of Chiriqui and is a blockading the border preventing the movement of freight carriers in Central America.
The provincial government in Chiriqui has failed to prevent Panamanian carriers, organized by the National Chamber of Cargo Transportation in Panama, (Canatraca) from indefinitely blocking the passage of trucks across the border in Paso Canoas (information at time of going to press at 3:30 p.m).
The Central American Bank for Economic Integration has announced that this month it will deliver 55% of the funds required to implement the customs union between the two countries.
The funds pending for the implementation of the Customs Union between Guatemala and Honduras are being managed by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE) for a total of $1.5 million for delivery in February.
In 2013 the export supply of the region in the international market was focused on integrated electronic circuits, coffee, bananas, sugarcane and medical devices.
From a report by the Secretariat of Central American Economic Integration (SIEC):
Diversification of exports is above the thresholds of the largest Latin American exporting economies.
It is time for transparent information to be given on which Central American governments continue to obstruct the essential unification of border formalities.
EDITORIAL
The Council of Ministers for Economic Integration (Comieco) which met in Managua on September 4 and 5 ended, as always happens in these meetings with public officials, with a statement of good intentions including promises to "work on the standardization of procedures at border posts and a regional strategy for trade facilitation," objectives which have been stated often and which up to now are far from being realised.
Key information regarding the seasonality in the value of Central American trade in both the intra-regional and extra-regional markets.
Extracted from a report entitled "Seasonal patterns of trade in Central America: initial notes" issued by the Secretariat of Central American Economic Integration (SIECA):
Merchandise exports from Central America enjoy marked seasonal patterns, with March and May being the months where total exports had a seasonal variation of 8.6% and 3.5% respectively. In a distinct rhythm, during the months of February and April Central American exports observed a variation of -3.0% and -5.4% due to seasonal factors.
Starting July 17th the categorization of products according to their health risk will be applied and a 15 day shipping notice will be required to import those labelled as "high risk."
A new "Directive on sanitation and phytosanitation for the facilitation of trade in goods and shipments in Central America", adopted by the Council of Ministers for Economic Integration (Comieco), approved in January and which will come into effect from Thursday, July 17, could detract agility from intraregional trade, warns the Exporters Corporation of El Salvador (Coexport).
Despite the antiquity of the efforts for Central American integration and for the Customs Union the obstacles to trade between the countries on the isthmus presented by customs offices are notorious.
The Federation of Chambers and Associations of Exporters of Central America (Fecaxca) is once again calling for policies and common strategies for standards and customs procedures.
In order to expedite intraregional trade it is necessary for customs offices dealing with cargo freight, to be open all hours, just as immigration customs offices are.
A study commissioned by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Central America (Fecamco) concluded that there are 87 barriers to trade in the region, one of the major ones being operations of the systems at customs offices at borders, followed by bureaucratic requirements and lack of adequate infrastructure.
Central America's trade dynamics in 2013 showed a slight cooling off mainly due to weak growth in external demand from trading partners out of the region.
From the executive summary of the Central America Annual Foreign Trade Report by SIECA:
In 2013 world trade in goods and services registered a moderate recovery, having experienced annual growth of 3.0% which is slightly higher than the trade growth in 2008 prior to the global economic crisis. Signs of recovery in the global commercial activity have been confirmed by the relative improvement in macroeconomic conditions in the advanced economies. In the commercial context described, Central America experienced a real growth of the economy equivalent to 4.1% in 2013, showing a slight slowdown compared to that observed in 2012, the year in which the regional economy grew by 5.2% annually.
On June 27, business leaders from the region will present their proposals to the presidents for improving and eliminating barriers to intraregional trade.
In the meeting with the presidents from the region scheduled for June 27 in the Dominican Republic, guilds that make up the Federation of Private Entities of Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic (FEDEPRICAP), will describe once again the obstacles that currently limit the competitiveness of Central American companies.
Governments in the region should accelerate and make concrete a real customs union that decisively contributes to economic development by facilitating trade in goods and services as well as flows of capital.
While Central American government officials in regional authorities speak of integration, in reality central governments are doing little or nothing to achieve it, when not they are not in the process of obstructing it.