In order to improve the sector's production management and guarantee safe pork trade, the Guatemalan government is moving forward with the implementation of the Official Pork Traceability Program.
The program, which is being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food (Maga), consists of placing radiofrequency button-type and flag-type devices for breeding animals.
Agricultural producers report that the smuggling of corn from Mexico has increased in recent years, and it is estimated that currently the consumption of grain entering illegally accounts for 25% of total demand.
According to farmers, smuggled corn competes unfairly with local production, since in Mexico producers enjoy tax exemptions and state subsidies.
The agricultural chemical union of Guatemala states that the illicit commercialization of fertilizers, insecticides and fungicides, represents about 12% of the local market.
According to reports from the Association of the Agricultural Chemical Guild (Agrequima), between August 2016 and the same month in 2018, a investigation of agrochemical packaging was carried out in the union's collection centers, in which several products were identified which did not possess the minimum quality requirements.
In Costa Rica a considerable increase has been reported in the illegal transfer of agricultural products such as avocados, which have been banned from Mexico for almost three years.
Crhoy.com reports that "... 'The Fiscal Control Police (PCF) reported a change in the trend of items confiscated in the first quarter of 2018. This is because they have detected significant shipments related to products such as avocados and garlic."
The impact of illicit trade in Guatemala is such that "in the case of the paper industry, smuggling has grown to the point of taking away a portion of the market from companies and 30% of their turnover."
Guatemalan businessmen say that out of every ten products sold in the country, three are of illegal origin.The impact of illicit trade on business activity can already be seen in the turnover of companies, who are also forced to reduce their employee payrolls.
Panamanian producers report that every week between 5 thousand and 7 thousand hundredweight of tomatoes enter the country illegally from Costa Rica, in addition to other agricultural products.
Producers in the province of Chiriquí claim that smuggling from the neighboring country is not limited to agricultural products, but also occurs with materials for production.
The devaluation of the Mexican peso has worsened the problem in the border areas, where it is estimated that 70% of all products sold are illegal.
The Association of Manufacturers of Food Products (Grefal), says the problem is more serious in the departments of Quetzaltenango, Retalhuleu, Coatepeque, San Marcos and Huehuetenango. Thereseven out of every ten of the products traded"... are contraband that comes in through the Mexican border."
Through at least 47 clandestine posts on the border between the two countries there is illegal circulation of tomatoes, yams, avocados, plantains and bananas.
Eduardo Carles, Minister of Agricultural Development in Panama, told Prensa.com that, in the case of bananas and plantains,"... producers sell them in Costa Rica when the price falls in the local market ....
Rice, vegetable oil, liquor, eggs, sugar and cement make up the bulk of the products in the list of goods most affected by illegal trade in the country.
From a statement issued by the Chamber of Industry in Guatemala:
Guatemala, July 19 2016. - The Chamber of Industry in Guatemala has revealed, as it has done repeatedly over the past twenty years, the situation of Contraband and Customs Fraud in the country, and this morning presented to the media the alarming statistics representing losses caused by this scourge in Guatemala.
Agricultural production in Mexico is favored by the devaluation of the peso, which has encouraged smuggling to Guatemala of pork products, coffee, poultry and eggs.
The union of entrepreneurs in the agricultural and livestock sector is claiming that it is now not only pork which is being traded illegally on the border, but other products such as coffee, eggs and poultry.
It has been indicated that deductions and taxes incurred by coffee farmers is the reason for smuggling of the grain to neighboring countries.
According to an article on Laprensa.hn Emilio Medina, manager of the export company Beneficio de Café Montecristo, "... taxes and deductions applied to each hundredweight of coffee exported combined with low grain prices in the international market have led to increased smuggling of the aromatic to Guatemala and Nicaragua ... This traffic of coffee to neighboring countries has affected the volume of shipments and foreign exchange. "
Nicaraguan producers are complain that phytosanitary controls applied by the government of Costa Rica have increased the illegal entry of Nicaraguan beans, estimated at $4 million a year.
On average over 160 containers holding 480 pounds of beans each are smuggled to Costa Rica, amounting to approximately $26,000, as "... a result of phytosanitary measures restricting the entry of beans with impurities," say Nicaraguan businessmen.
Industrialists are warning that the 2013-2014 harvest losses could exceed current projections of 600 million hundredweight.
The reduction in purchase volume in the north of the country has caused alarm in the industry which believes that the product is coming in through the border with Guatemala and being sold mainly in Cortés and Santa Barbara.
Representatives from the Association of Sugar Producers of Honduras (Apah) reported in an article on Laprensa.hn that "... 'There is a direct relationship between smuggling and sales by the central market of Honduran sugar. During the last months we saw a significant decrease in the area, which alerted us that something irregular was going on, this is a mass consumption product and one of the most indispensable in the basket, so there should not be a decrease in demand. '"
Exporters warn that the proposal to retain $5 for every three or four pounds of exportable quintal will reduce competitiveness and encourage smuggling.
The bill introduced in Congress days ago cites the retention of $5 for every three or four pounds of exportable quintal in order to constitute a fund to support coffee growers affected by rust. Exporters believe that this measure will only encourage more smuggling and reduce the product's competitiveness internationally.
Honduran businessmen estimate that a million quintals of grain have been illegally trafficked into Guatemala in recent months.
The reduction of the grain harvest in Guatemala caused by the rust plague intensified the problem, exacerbating a situation which is already well known among producers and exporters of Honduran coffee.
"It has been estimated that one million quintals of coffee may have left the country illegally," warned the president of the Coffee Exporters Association of Honduras (Ahdecafeh), Osman Acosta.