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.
Almost three years after the beginning of the restriction of avocado imports from Mexico, citing supposed phytosanitary issues, the Solis administration is now promoting exports of Costa Rican varieties of the fruit, while the local market suffers from shortages.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock announced with great fanfare that it has started an advice giving program to a group of Hass avocado producers in Tarrazú, so that they can start to export the fruit to European countries.
Hass avocados from Mexico can be imported in containers, provided that they come certified as fruit containers that are free from the sunspot disease or from areas certified as free.
The proposal put forward by the State Phytosanitary Service (SFE) to the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures at the WTO, where the conflict between Costa Rica and Mexico is being resolved, establishes that the fruit may be imported in any of three circumstances: the fruit is sent with a certificate that guarantees that it does not have sunspot, with a certificate that comes from areas free of the disease, or where there is compliance with rules agreed bilaterally by the two countries.
Following the same strategy that they used to block the entry of Mexican avocados, in Costa Rica local producers of the fruit now want to prevent imports coming in from Peru.
Producers from the Los Santos area say that the avocados entering the country from Peru are contaminated with the Sunblotch plague, and asked the State Phytosanitary Service to close the Costa Rican market to the Peruvian fruit.
The Mexican government has filed a complaint with the WTO against Costa Rica over the imposition of restrictions on imports of avocados, in place since May 2014.
Importers could assume the cost of a laboratory test to determine the absence of the sunblotch disease so that the SFE can authorize entry into the country.
<span dir="ltr">The proposal was raised by the SFE in a meeting held with Mexican authorities in late February.
In Costa Rica since the government suspended imports of Mexican avocados in May 2014, the average wholesale price of the fruit went up by 19% in 2015 and 16% last year.
Since the country stopped the imports of mexican avocados because of the alleged presence of the sunblotch plague, the price of this fruit in the local market has kept on rising.Although avocados are now imported from seven different countries, total imports have fallen 25% since then, and the average price has recorded since then an annual increase of 18%.
Delays of up to 23 days are being reported for carrying out the processes to register and bring in the first two shipments of avocados from the Dominican Republic.
Costa Rican importers and government officials have denounced the fact that the Dominican Republic took 23 days to process the first shipment that arrived in the country via Puerto Limon, and 20 days for the second shipment.
The situation is seen internationally as a crude protectionist maneuver by a government divided internally between respecting the obligations in signed free trade agreements and an outdated protectionist stance on the part of of uncompetitive national production sectors.
EDITORIAL
The Solis administration has postponed negotiations with Mexico for the lifting of the ban on imports of avocados from that country, while awaiting new phytosanitary studies.
The delay in phytosanitation studies by the Ministry of Agriculture has stalled the process for starting imports of avocados from the Dominican Republic.
Even though it has been a month since the Chamber of Exporters and Importers of Perishable Goods asked to be able to start the process of importing avocados from the Caribbean island, a delay in carrying out a study on the part of the State Phytosanitary Service (SFE) has prevented this from happening.
As expected after any government intervention in a market, the price consumers pay for the product has increased and a black market has been created, encouraging smuggling.
And the Costa Rican State itself risks having to pay millions in compensation for convictions for failing to comply with the procedures established by the WTO after blocking imports of avocados from Mexico.
The ban on Mexican avocado has led to an increase in imports from Chile, raising its wholesale price by more than 30%, and will cause shortages when locally produced supplies have been exhausted.
Protectionism for the Costa Rican production of avocados introduced by the Solis administration, arguing phytosanitary measures, achieved results that benefited local producers, such as increasing the price of the product and a decline in import volumes (13,061 tons in 2013 vs . 11,187 in 2015). But what is good for the local producer, is bad for consumers who are forced to pay more for the fruit, as well as seeing their right to choose what to consume violated, and eventually being prevented from simply consuming anything at all because there is no supply.
Employers indicate that taking the dispute to an arbitration panel will cost many millions of dollars and will result in indemnization payments, as it is clear that trade agreements and phytosanitary standards were breached.
The announcement by the Mexican authorities to take Costa Rica to a World Trade Organization (WTO) arbitration panel because of the dispute over avocados, has caused concern among employers who are members of the Chamber of Exporters and Importers of Perishable Goods (Ceipp).
The irreconcilable positions of both countries over phytosanitary measures for the Mexican product form the backdrop to a possible arbitration panel with the world trade body.
Since Costa Rica stopped issuing permits for the entry of Hass avocados from Mexico, for phytosanitary protectionism reasons, (the country argues they are protecting themselves from the disease known as sunspot), neither country has managed to convince the other through technical and political methods to reopen the market.
Establishing areas free of the sunblotch pest and certify them according to international standards is what Mexico has proposed in order to sell avocados to Costa Rica once again.
The proposal submitted by Mexico to the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica and the State Phytosanitary Service (SFE) includes the establishment of certain areas of fruit cultivation which are certified to be free of the pest. This certification would be done according to international health standards and would have the backing of the SFE.
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