Livestock farmers claim that in some areas of the border with Honduras the authorities are demanding requirements that complicate the free passage of livestock to the North of Central America.
Figures from the Center of Exports (Cetrex) show that between January and September 30 this year 17,222 head of cattle were exported, 3,852 cattle less than in the same period in 2016.According to the breeders, this decrease is due to"obstacles imposed by the government to favor slaughterhouses."
Milk and meat producers have reported discrepancies between the prices paid by slaughterhouses and international market prices.
The Federation of Livestock in Nicaragua (Faganic), the National Union of Agricultural Producers in Nicaragua (UPANIC), and the Nicaraguan Chamber of the Milk Sector (CANISLAC) have reported that four slaughterhouses are distorting the local market by allegedly paying prices that are lower than international prices.
In Nicaragua domestic cattle producers are being paid better than those in other countries.
"... The plants are paying around US $3.22 per kilo for 'hot' beef while markets such as Brazil, the world's largest exporter, whose meat competes with Nicaragua’s, paid US $2.22 per kilo. That means that Nicaragua is paying about $220 more per head than in those markets, and 45% more per kilo of 'hot' beef relative to the leading exporter of beef in the world ", said Onel Perez, executive director of the Nicaraguan Chamber of Beef Exporting Plants (Canicarne), in an extensive interview with Elnuevodiario.com.ni.
Producers and industrialists in the livestock sector have agreed to work together to reduce smuggling by optimizing controls on the movement of cattle.
The problem of cattle smuggling is an issue that has already been denounced on several occasions , and has now led to industry players coming together to make changes to processes and improve controls. The goal is to minimize smuggling so that industrialists have sufficient supply to give to slaughterhouse and producers get better yields.
The commissioning of the plant belonging to the Mexican SuKarne has once again brought to the fore the problem of smuggling of live cattle both to Costa Rica and to Honduras.
An article in Elnuevodiario.com.ni reports that "... Canicarne's executive director, Onel Perez, insisted that the problem of livestock [smuggling] not only affects meat processing plants, but will also have effects on employment in newly set up processing plants, the price of meat for consumers, and livestock taken as a whole. "
Every animal slaughtered in a slaughterhouse produces 10 liters of blood, which when processed produces a protein supplement used in the preparation of food for human and animal consumption.
The Danish company Proteínas Naturales SA (PROTENA) has invested $10 million in six years and has been processing for the last four years, bovine blood resulting from the process of slaughter of cattle for export to Costa Rica for use as a protein supplement and the newly opened U.S. market. In 2013 its sales in the domestic and foreign market generated approximately $800 thousand.
Nicaragua pork producers obtained permissions to perform the first export of meat to El Salvador.
After several years of trying to enter the international market, the Nicaraguan slaughterhouse Cacique has signed its first sale contract in El Salvador.
The contract initially involves sending a monthly container, but in the short-term this could double and be increase further still if other slaughterhouses are interested in selling their products in El Salvador.
The main factors are a herd of 5.8 million head of cattle, programs which give impetus to the activity, and the opportunities provided by the AA with the EU.
According to breeders and industry to date number of cattle could be higher than that amount recorded in the IV National Agricultural Census (4.2 million head). Onel Pérez, executive director of the Nicaraguan Chamber of Beef Exports (Canicarne) , currently estimated that the herd could be 5.8 million head.
Chicken meat imports in Costa Rica had a growth of 57% in 2012 over the previous year, while beef only grew 46%.
From the report:
In 2012 the country imported $48.3 million worth, an increase of 28% compared to the previous year.
Imports of frozen bovine meat recorded the highest increase in monetary terms, with imports in 2012 having increased by more than $4.4 million compared with the previous year, going from $9.6 million in 2011 to approximately $14 million in 2012.
Canicarne is demanding the repeal of the decree which establishes a fixed price of $250 for cattle weighing between 250 and 350 kilos, which favors the export of live cattle.
According to the Nicaraguan Chamber of Beef Exports (Canicarne), slaughterhouses are working at half capacity and demanding the repeal of the interministerial Mific-Magfor Decree 027-2007, believing that it encourages tax evasion in live cattle exports.
They warn that if domestic prices are not adjusted and there is no guarantee to maintain the value of the local currency, they will not sell their cattle to local slaughterhouses.
Alvaro Fiallos, president of the National Union of Farmers and Ranchers (UNAG), is demanding that slaughterhouses adjust the price which has been kept frozen since late May last year at $2.97 per kilo in hot weight, and that they recognize the maintenance of the value of the cordoba.
The drastic decrease in the number of livestock has generated a significant increase in imports of cattle in order to satisfy the demand for beef.
Information from the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (Procomer), reveals that in 2012, Costa Rica imported 11 times more live cattle than in 2011.
Erick Quirós, senior director of regional operations at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), said that this drop in the number cattle is a consequence of the crisis of 2009 and the impact of climate change.
In recent years, farmers and industrialists have accumulated investments in order to increase the quantity and quality of production.
On the side of the producers, work has been done in the area of genetics to produce more meat and milk, while slaughterhouses have been resized and modernized.
An article in Laprensa.com.ni outlines that "Investments made by the meat industry in recent years have turned local slaughterhouses into the largest and most modern in Central America, which in turn has ensured increased exports meat, offal and meat byproducts. Three of the largest slaughterhouses in the region are in Nicaragua: Nuevo Carnic, San Martin and MACESA. "
The Nicaraguan Livestock Federation wants the price of cattle sold to slaughterhouses to be set in dollars.
According to an article in Laprensa.com.ni, farmers have requested slaughterhouses to "dollarize the purchase price of livestock or recognize the slide in the value of the currency (five percent annually), as it triggers losses of $8 to $ 10 per cow.
The cattle farming union of Nicaragua is to issue shares of a corporation that will build a slaughterhouse and has customers in Taiwan, Canada and the United States.
The slaughterhouse, whose construction is valued at about $15 million, will have the capacity to process about 500 cattle per shift per day, in an area of about twenty hectares.
According to the president of the Federation of Livestock of Nicaragua (FAGANIC), Solon Guerrero, the slaughterhouse will be the fifth building in Nicaragua authorized to export meat, and will join San Martín or Nandaime, MACESA or Central, Nuevo Carnic and Novaterra .