Honduran companies and authorities of both countries are agreeing on dates to review and endorse the phytosanitary measures of those interested in exporting the fruit.
According to the authorities of the National Agricultural Health Service (Senasa) of Honduras, the South American country presented days ago to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the phytosanitary requirements for the import of melon from the Central American country.
During the first three months of the year countries in Central America sold $52 million worth of watermelons abroad, which is 20% more than what was exported in the same period in 2017.
Figures from the information system on the Fresh Watermelon Market in Central America, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData : [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with graph"]
Last year countries in the region exported $68 million worth of watermelons, the highest value in the last six years, registering an increase of 58% compared to 2016.
Figures from the information system on the Fresh Watermelon Market in Central America, compiled by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption = "Click to interact with graph"]
In 2016 the total export value was $53 million, 6% less than the amount exported during the previous year, mainly due to a decline in the international price.
Last year Honduras exported 268 million kilos of melons and watermelons, according to central bank figures.The total volume of exports fell by only 1.1% compared to the previous year.
Forecasts for the 2016-17 harvest are that fruit exports will generate between $60 and $65 million.
Melon producers anticipate that, although the weather conditions were not the best, they may achieve performance"... per hectare of between 900 to 1000 boxes".
Laprensa.hn reports that "...Producers hope to recover from losses in 2014 and 2015, when production was reduced to 700 cases because of damages caused by viruses and whitefly in some municipalities in the south of the country.This had a negative impact on foreign exchange earnings when only 51.6 million was registered in the period 2015 and 2016, lower than the 62.9 million in 2014."
The increase in production and international prices of melon, pineapple and coffee explain the better performance of the agricultural sector during the first quarter of 2014.
The monthly index of economic activity indicates that the agricultural and construction sectors were those that performed best in recent months. The agricultural sector in April showed a rise of 6% compared to the same month in 2013.
With the construction of a new irrigation canal the aim is to increase agricultural productivity in a naturally dry area.
A new irrigation canal in the north, 34 kilometers long, will artificially irrigate some 8,600 hectares in the cantons of Cañas and Abangares allowing in order to promotoe the revival of production in this area and diversification. $15 million will be invested in the project and work is expected to start next March.
Costa Rica needs 75,000 coffee pickers for the harvesting which starts in November and another 7,350 people to harvest sugar cane and melon.
This was announced by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MTSS) who in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Agro-Industrial Sugarcane League (LAY) and the Costa Rican Coffee Institute (iCafe), conducted a campaign to find those 82,350 employees for the harvest season which runs from November to April.
Honduran producers expect that this year, exports will increase by $3 million compared to previous years.
Thanks to favorable weather conditions in the south of the country, farmers expect to obtain export revenues of between $50 and $52 million, compared with $49.4 million last year.
According to Freshfruitportal.com, the sector planted about 6,000 hectares of this crop throughout the country, mainly of the varieties Cantaloupe, Galia, Honeydew, Santa Claus and Charentais.
With the implementation of the decree in Honduras suspending tax exemptions for 60 days, exporters will have losses of $9 million.
With the implementation of the legislative decree suspending tax benefits for 60 days, exporters of melons, watermelons and cucumbers covered by the Temporary Import Regime (RIT) could record initial losses of $9 million.
Melons imported from Guatemala carry a HarvestMark seal which allows consumers to check on the web their origin and cultivation history.
A statement from the Trade Office of Costa Rica reads:
The import company SunAmerica has added a HarvestMark seal to melons supplied by Guatemalan farmers. These are the first Central American melons to use a leading global traceability system, which consist of a label on the product which has a code that the consumer can enter in the HarvestMark website and find out, through videos and photos, on which farm the melon was grown, the farmer who grew it and the whole story behind the product.