As of March 15, the FTA between Taiwan and El Salvador will be null and void, a situation that will prevent the Central American country from selling 80,000 tons of sugar at favorable prices.
The Salvadoran government concluded the trade agreement with the Asian country in December last year, a decision that was not consulted with the country's productive sector and will affect sugar exports, as it will no longer have preferential treatment.
Because of the drought that is affecting several areas in Central America, in El Salvador, agricultural producers estimate that at least 6.3 million hundredweight of corn, valued at $39 million, have been lost.
Representatives from the Salvadoran Chamber of Small and Medium Agricultural Producers (Campo) said that due to the drought, which lasted up to 40 days in some areas of the country, they have lost more than 6 million hundredweight of corn, valued at $38.6 million.
In the first nine months of 2017, countries in the region exported $1.166 billion worth of sugar, 41% more than was sold during the same period in 2016.
Figures from the information system on the Raw Sugar Market in Central America, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with graph"]
Production from the 2016-2017 cycle amounted to 2.7 million metric tons, 4% less than the previous cycle, but the next is projected to reach 2.9 million metric tons.
Figures from Banco de Guatemala show that in the first semester the exported volume of sugar fell 8%, and $561 million were generated.
Luis Miguel Paiz, general manager of the Sugar Association of Guatemala (Asazgua), explains that "...
Between 2012 and 2016, exports to Canada almost doubled, raising from $55 million to $101 million, making it the main destination for Guatemalan sugar.
Figures from the information system on the the Sugar Market in Central America, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with the graph"]
From August 22 to 25, companies from the sector will be gathering together in San Pedro Sula to participate in business roundtables and discuss topics relevant to the sector.
The Congress of Sugar Technicians of Central America will be held at the Copantl Hotel Convention Center in San Pedro Sula. Business roundtables will be held and international experts will be giving talks on topics of interest to the sector, such as the effect of climate change on sugar production, use of technology, production costs, among other things.
In the first four months of the year the volume exported was 256 million kilos, 84% more than in the same period in 2016.
Growth in the cultivated area and productivity improvements explain the better performance of the sugar industry in Nicaragua.In the first quarter of the year, not only did the exported volume go up, but so did exported value, going from $50 million generated in the same period in 2016 to $118 million this year.
In 2016 the value of raw sugar exported from Central America amounted to $1,019 million, equivalent to 2.6 million tons, 21% less than than what was sold in 2015.
Figures from the information system on the the Raw Sugar Market in Central America, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with the graph"]
A change of minister in Costa Rica will aid in increasing the cost of sugar via an import tariff hike, harming consumers and the food industry, and increasing protection for the powerful sugar lobby.
EDITORIAL
The decision taken by the new chief of the Ministry of Economy reflects a clear interest in meddling in a process that should be resolved at a technical and non-political level.The decision to declare whether or not dumping occured in a particular market and what measures should be taken in response, corresponds to the office of Trade Defense, and should be free from any possible political bias.
The Ministry of Economy has decided to impose a new tax of almost 7% on sugar imported from Brazil, in response to a lawsuit brought by the union of local producers.
With this new protectionist measure the government is trying to put an end to a conflict that arose in 2015 between the Agricultural Cane League (Laica) and the importer Maquila Lama, when this company denounced a proposal to amend the regulation on sugar fortification claiming it attempted to restrict trade of imported grain.
The union of producers has estimated crop production for 2016/17 at 12 million hundredweight, slightly above the results seen in the previous season.
Of the total that the Association of Sugar Producers of Honduras (APAH) estimates will be produced, 70% will go to the local market, and the remaining 30% will be for export, from which it is expected that $100 million will be earned.
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.
In the period 2015/16 the amount of agricultural land dedicated to planting sugarcane fell by 1000 hectares compared to the previous cycle.
A report by the Office of the Comptroller General of Colombia said that the harvest in the 2015/16 period was almost unchanged, down just 0.6% from the previous production cycle. The harvest went from 38.208 hectares to 37.995 hectares.
The Commission to Promote Competition in Costa Rica has launched an investigation against Liga Agrícola de la Caña after a complaint was made by Maquila Lama.
The Commission to Promote Competition has ordered a process to be opened to determine whether Liga Agrícola de la Caña (Laica) committed anticompetitive practices, as claimed by Maquila Lama in June this year, noting that "...