The fall in international grain prices in recent years has increasingly affected producers in the region, who at current prices do not even reach the production costs.
Since years ago, international sugar prices have reported a clear downward trend, and in the last twelve months the quintal price registered a fall of 23%.
In the first days of January last year, the international price of sugar was above $15 per quintal, and that value has been decreasing in recent months, falling to $12 per quintal at the beginning of this year, according to Investing.com.
Businesses in the sector foresee a decline during the 2018-2019 harvest, attributed to the drought and the illegal invasion of lands resulting from the political crisis that Nicaragua is experiencing.
According to statistics from the National Committee of Sugar Producers (CNPA), during the last two harvests the country reported a sustained increase in its sugar production.
The new technical regulation that will apply as of July 2018 in Nicaragua, establishes methods of analysis, sampling, packaging and labeling of green robusta coffee for export and commercialization.
Sincethe coffee law was amended in May 2017to incorporate extensive planting of the Robusta variety in certain areas of the country, cultivation of this type of grain has been growing. Producers and exporters now have a new technical standard that establishes the methods to be followed in the cultivation of this variety.
Global coffee output for 2017/18 is preliminary estimated at 158.78 million bags, 0.7% higher than last year.
Total production of Arabica is estimated to decrease by 1.1% to 97.32 million bags compared to 98.42 million bags last year, as lower production of Colombian Milds and Brazilian Naturals are only partially offset by increases in Other Milds.
Last year, 2.3 million tons of bagasse were used to generate energy, and production is expected to be even higher this year.
The National Committee of Sugar Producers (CNPA) expects that the generation of energy using cane bagasse will be maintained in the medium term, since they predict good results for the production of cane. Last year, 2.3 million tons of bagasse were produced, which were used to generate energy, and this year they expect production to be even higher.
In October 2017 production limits and the "out of -quota" production concept will eliminate for the manufacture of biofuel and industrial non-food products.
The current production quota for sugar according to the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which applies to the 28 countries in the bloc, is 13.5 million tons per year.The production capacity of sugar producers in the European bloc is higher than the quota, therefore eliminating production limits will lead to a lowering of prices due to excess supply, similar to what has already happened in the milk market following the elimination of production quotas.
World production projected for the end of 2015/16 cycle will decrease by 6% compared to the period 2014/15.
From a report at the end of August by the International Cocoa Organization:
London, 31 August 2016--The International Cocoa Organization today releases its revised forecasts for the current 2015/2016 cocoa year and revised estimates of world production, grindings and stocks of cocoa beans for 2014/2015, as summarized below.
Poultry farmers this year projected they will produce 657 million units, 11% more than last year.
The Nicaraguan Egg Commission in conjunction with the National Association of Poultry Farmers and Food Producers (ANAP) has projected an 11% increase in production of egg units this 2016, thanks to the fact that in November 2015 the sector had grown by 9.2 % and it reached 18.1 million boxes in the first eleven months of the year, reported Elnuevodiario.com.ni.
Despite the vagaries of international prices during the year, exports of green coffee of the 2014/15 harvest exceeded $414 million, 9% more than in the previous period.
In volume terms, total exports exceeded 2.3 million pounds at an average annual price of $179, according to figures reported by the Center for Export Procedures (CETREX). Between the beginning and the end of the harvest, the month in which the largest export volume was reported was March, with 327,950 quintals.
The FAO predicts an increase in corn production in the Caribbean and Central America, reaching 30 million tonnes, 5% more than in 2014, with Mexico producing 85% of the total.
From a statement issued by from the FAO:
Central America and the Caribbean will be affected by El Niño
In Mexico, the wheat crop in 2015 will reach a record level of almost 4.1 million tonnes.
It has been noted that lack of a national policy for development of the sector in the long term has prevented more than 2 million hundredweight from being produced on average every year since 2000.
Production has stagnated, with figures close to two million hundredweight for the past three years, surpassed by Guatemala and Honduras, with production levels 4 and 6 million respectively.
A company dedicated to the cultivation and processing of bamboo plans to increase the number of hectares planted in 2015 from 2,400 to 3,000 and produce bamboo fiber for industrial purposes.
In order to start exporting in 2016, the group EcoPlanet Bamboo aims increase its planted areas to market bamboo fiber in the United States, so that it can be used as raw material in the production of activated charcoal.
Private banks in Nicaragua will be granting loans to the agricultural sector in order to address the consequences of the drought across Central America.
$383 million in will be awarded loans. Juan Carlos Argüello, president of the Association of Private Banks of Nicaragua (Asobanp) stated that the agreement was made during a meeting with officials from the Central Bank to assess the impact that the lack of rain will have on production and the country's food supply.
Changes in food consumption patterns and preference for organic products are forcing the egg industry to modify its production techniques.
The demand for "specialty eggs" from hens that are free range or fed with organic products and a tendency to consume only egg whites in order to avoid cholesterol is revolutionizing the industry, forcing producers to develop new forms of production.