In the first quarter of 2014 the total volume of sales to the South American country was 25% lower than in the same period in 2013.
The drop in retail sales has been seen in sugar, dairy products, oils and fats, livestock and food industry waste, representing a reduction of 4.45% on Nicaraguan revenue in the period in question.
"In 2014, the sale of dairy products has registered a fall of 100% in volume and value because local companies did not package milk under Venezuelan brands as they did in 2013."
Of the major producers in the region, Nicaragua was the most affected, having exported 64% less in the first four months of the harvest.
Except for Brazil coffee exports from nine countries in Latin America fell by 8% during the first four months of the harvest which began in October compared with the same period of the previous cycle. Nicaragua was the most affected with a fall of 64 % in sales of the grain.
Decline in the supply and the high costs of production are affecting sales revenues locally and abroad.
Data from the Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN) reveals that prior to September the national collection of milk was 72 million gallons, that is 2.9 million less than reported in the same period in 2012.
In addition export earnings of the liquid decreased by 5.4% in the January-November period of 2012 to 2013, according to the Center for Export Procedures (CETREX). Up until November I milk sales totaled $64.01 million, compared to the $67.5 million reported in 2012.
During the first nine months of 2013, exports totaled $1,9268 billion, while in the same period of 2012 they were $2.0703 billion.
The information was published by the Center for Export Procedures (CETREX), who reported that the volume of foreign sales suffered a decline of 2.1% between January and September, as last year 1,337,991.6 tons was reported and in the same period of 2012 there were 1,366,962.1 tons.
In the first seven months of 2013 foreign sales totaled $1.520 billion, while in the same period in 2012, exports were $1.638 billion.
In addition, the Center for Export Procedures (CETREX) reported a 3.8% drop in the volume of exports, as between January and July 1,100,944.8 tons were reported, while in the same months in 2012 the amount was 1,144,752.4 metric tons.
During the first half of 2013, exports closed at $1.308 billion, $124 million less compared to sales in the same period in 2012, when the figure reported was $1.432 billion.
According to the Center for Export Procedures (CETREX) major Nicaraguan export destinations are the United States, Venezuela, Canada, El Salvador and Costa Rica. In terms of volume, the decline is 2.95%, while in mid-2012 this indicator grew by 10.90%.
Exports totaled $7.676 billion in the first quarter of 2013, a decrease of 3.3% compared to exports in the same period last year.
From the executive summary of the report entitled "Central American Foreign Trade Bulletin January-March 2013" by SIECA:
Exports from the region reached an FOB value of U.S. $7.6757 billion during January to March 2013, observing a negative annual growth of 3.3% over exports recorded in the same period last year (U.S. $ 7.9366 billion).
During the first five months of 2013 $1.1067 billion worth of goods were sold abroad, while in the same period in 2012 export revenues were $1.1852 billion.
The Center for Export Procedures (CETREX) reported a decrease of 0.94% in the volume of foreign sales, registering 849,563.6 metric tons between January and May compared to 857,605.6 metric tons in the first five months of 2012.
Up to March 30, 2013, raw or unroasted coffee sales had fallen by 32%, which means a loss of $45.1 million.
Furthermore, the have been fewer sales of beef, sugar and peanuts, among other products, resulting in total export revenues diminishing by 8%, according to the Center for Export Procedures (Cetrex).
The impact is due to the main market of the country (USA), having only purchased $174.5 million worth, compared to the $213.7 million spent up to March 30 last year.
Industrialists have denounced sub invoicing in the sale of live cattle in Guatemala, as a fraudulent method of getting subsidies.
From an interview in Elnuevodiario.com by Leslie Nicholas Lacayo with Alfredo Marín, vice president of the Chamber of Industries of Nicaragua, who explains the causes of the decline in exports to Venezuela, a major beef market:
The financial crisis affecting Europe has resulted in low prices for melons and watermelons.
So says Alexis Bravo, president of the Nontraditional Agribusiness Group in Panama (Grantap), at the end of the XX International Congress of Producers and Exporters of Melons and Watermelons, held in Panama.
"... The European market prospects remain good, but ...
In the first ten months of the current crop foreign exchange revenues totaled $374.7 million, $37.2 million less than in the same period in the last harvest.
The decline in foreign exchange earnings has been caused in part by the decline in export volumes (1.71 million quintals from October to July this year versus 1.83 million quintals in the same period last year) coupled with a slight decline in the average price per quintal.
The sum of exports from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Colombia and Peru was lower by 2.28% compared to the same period in the previous harvest.
From the National Coffee Association (Anacafe):
The Guatemalan Anacafé outlined in a statement that their exports of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Colombia and Peru totaled 20,709,455 bags of 60 kilos from October 2011 to last June .
The amount of mangoes sold in Germany in the first three months of 2012 compared with the same period in the previous two years, fell by more than half.
A statement from PROCOMER reads:
Mango sales have collapsed in Germany. The amount of mangoes sold in Germany in the first three months of 2012 compared to the same period in the previous two years fell by more than half, according to the German Association Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (AMI).
The July-September quarter has proved to be the period with the lowest export growth so far in 2011.
A report by the Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN in Spanish) notes, "that although the overall export performance continues to show good results, they are supported by high prices in international markets."
In the first nine months of the year the cumulative value of exports was $1,736.8 million, 30% higher than in the same period in 2010.