High social charges, excessive regulations for businesses and the high price of labor are factors that prevent Costa Rica's economy from reaching its growth potential.
In Costa Rica, establishing a personally owned company without employees is up to three times more expensive than what it can cost in a country that belongs to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
In recent months, it is estimated that the cost of raw materials for bread production in the Nicaraguan market has increased by about 25% and consumption has decreased by 40%, a phenomenon that is reported in the context of the economic crisis generated by the outbreak of covid-19.
Raw materials such as oils, shortening, margarine and sugar have increased their prices in this context of sanitary emergency, a situation that has put pressure on the production costs of bread producers.
Because yellow corn is imported from the United States at a price of $11 per quintal in Nicaragua and the cost of producing a quintal of sorghum locally is $12.5, competition for local producers is nearly impossible.
Nicaragua is part of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement, an agreement that allows yellow corn from the United States to enter the local market free of tariffs.
Scheduling medical checkups for the staff, preparing the housing modules to maintain social distance and adapting the logistics of transporting people are challenges that the sugar mills will face during the 2020-2021 harvest.
The sugar cane harvest that is about to begin represents a source of employment for thousands of people in the region and in this context of the propagation of covid-19, the companies will have to face multiple challenges to get the harvest going.
Discounts and offers, increase in the price level generally and the rise in operating costs due to new health and safety protocols are the main threats to the profitability of companies in this new commercial reality.
Given this context of economic and health crisis, which derives from the outbreak of covid-19 at the global level, Ariel Baños, a specialist in price management and founder of Fijaciondeprecios.com, explains what are the main threats that could affect the profitability levels of companies, and details some strategies that could be applied to mitigate the adverse effects.
Costa Rican businessmen are opposed to the bill that gives Icafé the authority to impose requirements and controls on the processes of supplying the raw material necessary for grain production.
In the current period, the Legislative Assembly plans to discuss bill 21.163, which aims to transform the powers of the Costa Rican Coffee Institute (Icafé), but the business sector anticipates that the proposed modifications will lead to a rise in the prices of the product.
Honduran businessmen agree that the constant increases in electricity rates are making the country less attractive for investment.
The Honduran Electricity Regulatory Commission (Cree) announced a few days ago that by the beginning of 2020 there will be an average increase of 2.9% in the price of electricity.
In Nicaragua, ranchers claim that as a result of the tax reform and the inevitable increase in production costs, they have had to increase the slaughter of female cattle by 4%, putting at risk the growth of the cattle herd.
After the approval on February 27, 2019 of the amendment to the Tax Concertation Law, which consisted of raising income tax from 1% to 2% for medium sized companies with higher income, and for large taxpayers from 1% to 3%, the livestock sector has reported considerable increases in its production costs.
The Mexican Volaris announced that so far, they do not plan to execute any growth plan in Costa Rica, because operating costs in the country will rise considerably in 2020.
Managers of the low-cost airline said that the increase in fares to Juan Santamaria airport scheduled for next year will represent a 59% increase in the operation cost of the company in the country.
In the country, the business sector expects an increase in operating costs in the coming months, as a result of the expected increase in the price of electricity in the short term.
With the entry into force of the tax reform, banana production costs in Nicaragua have increased between 30% and 35%, because of the rise in the price of agrochemicals.
Through the implementation of data mining and machine learning techniques, companies can improve their efficiency and optimize their production processes.
EDITORIAL
Analyzing large volumes of data to make decisions that result in better results for a company applies not only to the commercial and sales field, but also to other areas of the same or even more sensitive companies: the production process.
In a competitive scenario for lower costs and higher productivity, devaluation against the Lempira Dollar in Honduras and the Cordoba Dollar in Nicaragua is a factor that could help these economies stay competitive.
In the last five years, the exchange rate in Honduras increased by 17%, from 21.06 Lempiras per U.S. dollar in June 2014 to 24.67 in the same month in 2019.
In the government's review of Nicaragua's tax reform that has been in place since February, businessmen consider that no tax cuts will be made, even though production costs in the country have risen considerably.
After the approval on February 27, 2019 of the amendment to the Tax Concertation Law, which consists of raising from 1% to 2% the income tax for medium sized companies with higher income, and for large taxpayers from 1% to 3%, the productive sector has reported increases in its production costs.
High operating costs and the contraction of internal consumption are some of the reasons why in Costa Rica manufacturing companies under definitive regime report a decrease in their production, a situation that contrasts with the dynamism of companies in free trade zones.
The latest report on economic activity in the country, compiled by the Central Bank of Costa Rica explains that manufacturing grew 2.3% mainly because the free zone companies maintained a high growth (10.8%), which more than compensated for the decrease in production of the definitive regime (-2.5%).
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