The Central American Bank for Economic Integration approved a loan, which will be used to finance a program to renovate the country's coffee farm.
The financing is destined to the renovation of the coffee park of the country, through the substitution of plants damaged by plagues and diseases or with greater age that allows to revert the losses of productivity by the aging of the plantations and the effects of the rust, estimating the renovation of approximately 19.9% of the coffee park of Guatemala, informed the financial entity.
The Ortega administration rejected the request of Nicaraguan coffee growers, who requested that the tax of one dollar per quintal exported be waived for the 2020-2021 harvest.
The decision to start charging from next year was published by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce (Mific) in the October 15, 2019 edition of La Gaceta.
The funds collected from the producers will be managed by the National Commission for the Transformation and Development of Coffee Culture (Conatradec), as stipulated in the Law for the Transformation and Development of Coffee Culture, which was amended in August 2019.
The National Assembly of Nicaragua approved the bill that establishes that when the price per quintal of grain exceeds $100, producers must contribute one dollar to a commission that will watch over the incentives of the sector.
The changes to the Law on the Transformation and Development of Coffee Farming were surrounded by controversy, since the previous law mandated that the National Commission for the Transformation and Development of Coffee Farming (Conatradec) should be composed of nine representatives of the private sector, all proposed by the same producers or businessmen.
For the 2018-2019 harvest, the country began to export coffee of the Robusta variety, and according to the producers for the next agricultural cycles they plan to increase their cultivable area.
According to figures from the Center for Export Procedures (Cetrex) between October 2018 and May 2019, the country sold abroad about 50,000 quintals of the Robusta variety, being the first time that the species of the grain is reported in official export figures.
Because of a drop in the price of the grain, during the first eight months of the 2018-2019 harvest Honduran coffee sales abroad totaled $673 million, 14% less than what was reported in the same period of the 2017-2018 cycle.
According to figures from the Honduran Coffee Institute (Ihcafe) between the first eight months of the 2017-2018 harvest, which runs from October 2017 to May 2018, and the same period of the 2018-2019 season, sales and exported volume decreased from $786 million to $673 million, and from 6.4 million to 6.3 million, respectively.
While producers in El Salvador predict that the local crop could be extinct in the next two years because of falling international prices, other countries in the region place grain at more favorable prices.
Each country's realities are different, as there are several differences that are reflected in the amounts exported and in the average prices at which the grain sells abroad.
Honduran coffee growers forecast that for the 2018-2019 harvest, foreign sales income will be reduced by $300 million with respect to the previous cycle.
According to the Association of Coffee Exporters of Honduras (Adecafeh), the bad numbers for the sector continue, because so far this crop has registered a fall of $ 40 million in exports, equivalent to 400 thousand quintals, compared to the previous cycle.
In December 2018, it was reported that the international price of a pound of coffee fell to $1, which is equivalent to a 12% drop compared to the same month in 2017.
Data from the International Coffee Organization (ICO) detail that in the last two months of last year also reported a decline in the price of the pound of coffee globally, in this case was 8% as it declined from $1.09 to $1.
Because of the low grain prices reported in 2018, it is estimated that there could be a reduction in supply, which would lead to a rebound in prices this year.
On average, the pound price of grain was close to $1.15 during 2018, however, global businessmen forecast that for this year the price could rise to $1.24 per pound.
In October and November last year, gold grain exports from Nicaragua totaled $13 million, 60% less than what was sold in the same months of 2017.
Figures from the Export Processing Center (Cetrex) detail that in the first two months of 2018-2019 harvest, the country sold abroad 103,380 quintals of gold grain, 58% less than the 248,808 quintals exported in the same period of the 2017-2018 harvest.
In Costa Rica, the coffee sector expects that for the 2018-2019 harvest will be produced about 1.8 million quintals, a volume that would be 11% lower than that recorded in the 2017-2018 season.
According to forecasts by the Costa Rican Coffee Institute (Icafé), between the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 harvests, the country's production will fall from 2 million to 1.8 million quintals, a decline that would be caused by the cyclical behavior of plants and the aging of coffee plantations.
During the first six months of the year, coffee exports from Central American countries totaled $1,948 million, 9% less than what was reported in the same period in 2017.
Figures from the information system on the coffee market in Central America complied by the Business Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with graphic"]
To reduce production costs, the Guatemalan coffee association will implement a climate information system to provide access to more specific forecasts in coffee-growing areas.
According to the National Coffee Association (Anacafé) with the implementation of more weather stations in small coffee areas of the country, the costs of grain production could be reduced between 10% and 15%.
In Guatemala, for the 2018-2019 harvest, the production of green coffee is projected to reach 4.5 million quintals, which would exceed the 4.4 million quintals reported in the previous season.
According to Ricardo Arenas, president of the National Coffee Association (Anacafe), "... The 2018-2019 coffee harvest, which started last month, will stand at 4.5 million quintals of green coffee; of that figure, it is estimated that 3.5 million will be exported."
Because of the drought and the decrease in international prices, the trade guilds of the sector in El Salvador are projecting a decrease in production for the next harvests.
Marcelino Samayoa, CEO of the Asociación Salvadoreña de Beneficiadores y Exportadores (Abecafé), explained to Elmundo.sv that "... The drought registered in 2018 caused a slow increase in the ‘bandolas’, which are the branches of the coffee segments that should be there for 2019/2020.
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