After the Constitutional Court suspended the agreement regulating part-time employment in Guatemala, the exporters' union asked to be a third party interested in the case, because without the regulations, the generation of formal employment is weakened.
The first three trade missions organized for exporters in Guatemala will focus on the potential of mass consumer and agricultural products in those markets.
From the Agexport press release:
The Trade Intelligence Unit of the Department of Market Development and Commercial Promotion of AGEXPORT, will carry out in 2019 different commercial missions towards the "Best Markets & Best Products" selected by AGEXPORT to open, strengthen and consolidate business opportunities for Guatemalan companies.
The complex economic and political situation that has affected Nicaragua since April continues to affect Central America, where exporters report losses of $45 million.
In the past months, cargo transport faced difficulties in moving goods along Nicaragua's highways due to demonstrators' blockades and insecurity, seriously affecting Central American companies.
On September 1 and 2 Nicaraguan exporters from various sectors will be exhibiting their merchandise in Managua and taking part in business rounds with international buyers.
The Nicaraguan exporters' union is inviting local and international businessmen to take part in business rounds within the framework of the ExpoApen 2017 exhibition.
The high logistic costs and the appreciation of the Quetzal against the dollar are two of the factors which, according to exporters, have prevented better performance from being achieved in recent years.
According to Agexport, exports of Guatemalan agricultural products in the last 6 years have registered very low growth, going from $2.96 billion in 2011 to $3.2 billion in 2016.In the same period, non-traditional agricultural products which registered a decrease were peeled sesame seeds (-14%), frozen peas (-6%), broccoli (-47%), frozen beans (-35%), tomatoes (-35% %), potatos (-48%), and mangos (-3%), among others.
The debt that the state has owed to export companies for four years, from unrefunded VAT, has now reached $50 million.
Silvia Cuéllar, executive director of Coexport, told Elmundo.sv that"... every year, the Ministry of Finance should have reimbursed exporters about $200 million, and the amount now overdue is $50 million."
Falling short of the the amount achieved in 2015, $42 million worth of deals were negotiated in purchase intentions of products such as honey, fresh fruits, processed foods, seafood, vegetables and meat.
Although the goal of the union of Nicaraguan exporters was more than $48 million traded in the 2015 edition of the trade fair, they did manage to achieve $42 million in two days of activity, which was attended by 64 international buyers from the United States, Canada, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Brazil, Spain and Puerto Rico.
The union of exporters claims that business opportunities are being lost due to the slow pace of processing and issue of permits and certificates for export.
Juan Bulnes, president of the Panamanian Association of Exporters (APEX), told Prensa.com that"...'For exporters, the National Customs Authority (ANA) and the Ministry of Health (MoH) are a thorn in their side'."
Added to the factors already deteriorating competitiveness in the export sector are increased thefts of merchandise on the country's roads and infiltration of drug trafficking in exports.
The National Chamber of Cargo Carriers (Canatrac) reports that attacks on trucks on roads in the country have increased since 2012.They state "... on average 12 assaults used to be committed per year, however the figure has risen to 20 in recent years'."
On September 23 and 24 Nicaraguan exporters from various sectors will be showcasing their wares in Managua and taking part in business meetings.
From a statement issued by the National Association of Exporters in Nicaragua:
Canada, the United States, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Europe and Cuba are markets taking part in the sixteenth edition of EXPOAPEN 2016, the latter taking part in this business conference for the first time.
From 2006 to 2015 sales to Taiwan have grown at an annual rate of 14%, with sugar and coffee at the head followed by paper, cardboard, tobacco, shrimp, lobster, fruit, copper, and other products.
Although in the ten years of the FTA between Guatemala and Taiwan exports to China have not stopped growing, they have always been highly concentrated in commodities such as coffee and sugar, meaning that there is an opportunity to diversify taking into account the consumer tastes and characteristics of the Taiwanese market.
In order to speed up timeframes and procedures, employers have asked that the requirement be eliminated or that the the timeframe, currently one month, be extended to at least one year.
In Central America, only authorities in Nicaragua are demanding compliance with fiscal solvency, which directly affects the competitiveness of local exporters against the rest of the region.
Businesses in the tourism and export sectors are insisting on the need to revise the exchange rate policy in order to recover part of the competitiveness lost in recent years.
While on one side of the fence exporters and tourism companies are asking to change the way in which the exchange rate is managed in order to improve their competitiveness, on the side are the companies and sectors that have benefited not only from the stability shown by the price of the dollar in the country but also from cheap imports.
Salvadoran exporters claim that the system used by the Ministry of Finance from November to return VAT has put a strain on companies liquidity.
The new mechanism to refund VAT to exporters (which has been in force since November), has caused new problems between the sector and the tax authority of El Salvador.
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