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.
The government is preparing a registration system that requires pork producers to mark their pigs in order to combat smuggling through the use of phytosanitary and traceability controls.
The aim is to have the agreement in late January, which would start with 88 producers enrolled in the Association of Pork Producers of Guatemala (APOGUA), in order to have an animal traceability system, prevent the illegal entry of pigs and prevent arrival of illnesses from Mexico.
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.
The producers union has estimated the number of pigs per month which are smuggled illegally from Mexico at 2500, causing losses of $15 million a year.
The Association of Pork Producers of Guatemala (APOGUA) states that the annual pork sales total $323 million, but could be more if it were possible to minimize the illicit flow of pork from Mexico.
Elperiodico.com.gt reports that "...Despite performing surveillance on the border with Mexico to stop and report the crime, it is estimated that in one month about 2500 pigs are able to enter from Mexican territory. According to the general manager APOGUA, Carlos Zuastegui, so far in 2015 that 8400 pounds of pig meat have been seized."
As a measure to discourage smuggling, the taxable limit for withholding income tax on the export of live cattle has been reduced.
The Federation of Livestock Associations of Nicaragua (Faganic) welcomed the decision to reduce the limit for incurring income tax, believing that it will be an incentive to reduce smuggling of cattle and allowing more to be exported through the formal market.
In Honduras shortages caused by cattle smuggling and uncontrolled exports to Guatemala and Mexico have forced the closure of a plant which in 2014 exported $37 million worth of meat products.
The company Carnes y Derivados SA de CV decided to stop operating the plant that operated in Catacamas, Olancho province, mainly due to the shortage of cattle which is affecting agribusinesses in the country.
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. "
The government is looking for alternatives to resolve the conflict between producers and traders, which has generated shortages and led to a rise in prices.
In recent weeks the shortage of meat in the country has caused an increase in prices in the market, despite being one of the products in a list whose prices are controlled. A pound of meat has risen to $2.75. This shortage is attributed to illegal smuggling of cattle to Guatemala.
The shortage of meat denounced by retailers will continue to occur until a definitive solution is found to the illegal trafficking on the border with Mexico.
Guatemala has an annual production of 68.4 tons of beef, and yet the country suffers from shortages, mainly due to the illegal smuggling into Mexico. Currently adjustments are made to the price of meat due to the shortage of meat in the domestic market.
The livestock sector attributes the reduction in sales in the first nine months of the year, compared to the same period of 2013, to increased smuggling.
Some 39,800 cattle were exported up to the month of September, according to reports from the Central Bank of Nicaragua. This amount reflects a decline in sales compared to September 2013 when 56,000 heads were exported.
The union has denounced the absence of a long-term policy to organise production and help the fight against the pests and smuggling which are hurting the sector.
The recent plague of the salivosa insect, which caused an emergency phytosanitary status to be declared, the increased smuggling of beef on the border with Mexico and the lack of actual figures related to the sector, are the main arguments put forward by the livestock sector when demanding that the government implement a policy of long-term development for the sector.
Warnings have been issued that a projected health license suspension for transport in border areas could encourage smuggling of pigs from Nicaragua.
The Costa Rican Chamber of Pork Producers believes that the proposal to remove the sanitary license for the movement of pigs in the north will encourage smuggling from Nicaragua. This measure was included in the negotiations between producers, particularly of cattle, in the north and authorities from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG).
Guatemalan retailers and suppliers are demanding that the government tighten controls to prevent smuggling of meat into Mexico.
These illegal transportations have, according to retailers, influenced the increase in the price of a pound of meat which this week was trading at $3.3.
In the meeting with officials from the Ministries of Economy, Agriculture and Interior, Julio Rivera Claveria, Vice Minister of Security at the Ministry of Interior said that they would increase controls "in the blind spots where meat is passed on to the neighboring country."
Rising prices of meat caused by cattle smuggling from Guatemala to Mexico could be solved by imports from Nicaragua or Honduras.
The president of Guatemala, Otto Perez Molina, admitted the possibility of importing meat from Nicaragua and Honduras as a final solution to the rising price of meat, which has been fueled by cattle smuggling to Mexico, given the high prices in the northern nation.