New requirements that Mexican authorities intend to place on shrimp imports cultivated in Honduras do not indicate, at least in the short term, that there will be an eventual suspension of the blockade.
In Guatemala, two importing companies claim not to be able to bring in this type of fruit imported from Mexico, because the Ministry of Agriculture requires them to present a phytosanitary certificate that their suppliers do not issue.
Because the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food (MAGA) of Guatemala, requires a phytosanitary export certificate which must indicate that avocados coming into the country are free of the Sunblotch virus, since May 11 importing companies have not been able to bring in the product.
If Costa Rican businessmen still had doubts about the direction to be taken by the new Alvarado administration in agricultural matters, the affirmations made by the newly-appointed minister of Agriculture and Livestock have managed to dissipate them completely.
EDITORIAL
"...'The position that I bring to the ministry is to protect national production, with all the legal and technical instruments provided to us by treaty frameworks ...We are going to be very jealous with entries, no matter what they are, with meats, with potatoes.There has been a lot of laxity, non compliance with the regulations," said Renato Alvarado, the ministry's new leader, to Nacion.com.
A little more than a month after the Panamanian government decided to raise import tariffs on various products as a measure of retaliation against the South American country, representatives from both governments reaffirmed their positions at a WTO hearing.
The outcome of the hearing will be announced by the WTO between August and September, according to the rules that govern the agency.
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.
Since January 19, the measure imposed last August by the Honduran government last August, which prevented the entry of pork products and by-products from Guatemala, has been lifted.
After consultation meetings on this matter, Honduras lifted the measure, reestablishing, as of January 19 of this year, the entry of processed meats and sausages into the Honduran market corresponding to tariff items 1601.00.30.00, 1601.00.90.00, 1602.41. 00.00 and 1602.49.90.00.
If the request by the Panamanian Ministry of Commerce and Industries is approved, a new tax of up to 40% could be established on the dividends distributed by Colombian companies.
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.
The South American country has extended the tariff of 35% and 40% on imports of footwear and textiles, respectively, for two more years, further complicating the outlook for companies in the Colon Free Zone.
Up until November 2019, the Colombian government will continue to apply the 35% tariff for footwear and 40% for textiles that enter the country at a value equal to or lower than a predetermined threshold.
The Hernández administration has denounced the fact that Guatemalan authorities are imposing non-tariff barriers on the entry of chicken from Honduras.
The head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Honduras, Jacobo Paz, announced that since they have not been able to resolve the problem with their counterparts in Guatemala, they will submit the case to the Council of the Minister of Economic Integration (Comieco).
The Brazilian government claims that the 6,8% increase in the tax on sugar imports from the south american country is in violation of a WTO anti-dumping agreement.
Raising taxes exclusively on Colombian products is one of the measures that Panama could take until Colombia starts to comply with the WTO ruling.
The Panamanian government has asked the World Trade Organization (WTO) for authorization to use trade measures against Colombia, worth $210 million, equivalent to the effects that the imposition of Colombian tariffs had on the Colon Free Zone.
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%.
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 Panamanian government has announced that until the dispute over tariffs is resolved, it will keep in abeyance the agreement signed with Colombia to buy two ships for $30 million.
As part of the trade dispute caused by the tariffs imposed by Colombia on imports of Panamanian footwear and textiles, the Varela administration has announced the suspension of a contract signed in October with Cotecmar, a company linked to the Colombian Defense Ministry.
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