In order to improve the sector's production management and guarantee safe pork trade, the Guatemalan government is moving forward with the implementation of the Official Pork Traceability Program.
The program, which is being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food (Maga), consists of placing radiofrequency button-type and flag-type devices for breeding animals.
As a result of the restrictions on mobility and the ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages, which were decreed in 2020 to mitigate the outbreak of covid-19, it is estimated that the smuggling of liquor from Mexico into the Guatemalan market increased considerably.
According to the report Prohibitions, illicit alcohol and lessons to be learned from the covid-19 lockdown, prepared by the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (Tracit), the dry law imposed for long periods boosted sales of smuggled alcoholic beverages.
A bill is being considered in Costa Rica that proposes to identify each container of this type of beverage with a device, label or sticker in order to prevent smuggling, a measure that, according to business people, would not be effective.
Given the crisis in the region, businessmen in Guatemala report that smuggling of Mexican products has increased, while in Panama, beer producers attribute the rise in illegal trade in alcoholic beverages to the dry law.
With the spread of Covid-19, governments in Central America have decreed mandatory quarantines and have also restricted the movement of consumers at certain hours.
Because the current legal framework is ineffective, Guatemalan entrepreneurs in the food sector are asking the government to draft a new law that would criminalize smuggling and also consider it a matter of national security.
Directives of the Guatemalan Chamber of Food and Beverages (CGAB) assure that the current Decree 58-90 "Law Against Fraud and Contraband" is obsolete and does not allow for direct and frontal combat against contraband.
In Costa Rica, the retail sector guild estimates the monthly value of illicit trade generated through social networks such as Facebook at $8.5 million.
From the Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce statement:
San José, Wednesday, December 18, 2019. The illicit market in social networks reaches an inventory value of at least 5.1 billion colones per month ($8.5 million).
As a result of the operations carried out by the Superintendence of Tax Administration to stop smuggling, in recent days there have been two attacks on the customs area of Tecún Umán I, on the border between Guatemala and Mexico.
According to information provided by the Guatemalan authorities, on November 13 and 17, groups of alleged smugglers attacked the customs of Tecún Umán I in San Marcos, because in the operations deployed by the tax authority, merchandise was seized that was not declared upon entry into the country.
Agricultural producers report that the smuggling of corn from Mexico has increased in recent years, and it is estimated that currently the consumption of grain entering illegally accounts for 25% of total demand.
According to farmers, smuggled corn competes unfairly with local production, since in Mexico producers enjoy tax exemptions and state subsidies.
In Costa Rica, a bill is being discussed that seeks to combat adulteration and smuggling of alcoholic beverages, but the business sector believes that if approved, the result could be an increase in illegal trafficking.
The project called "Law against adulteration and smuggling of alcoholic beverages", proposes the use of technological tools to combat smuggling, imitation and adulteration of alcoholic beverages.
In Costa Rica, it is estimated that illegal trade mobilizes around $1.230 million per year, which is equivalent to 7% of household consumption.
According to a study by the Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce's (CCCR) Illicit Trade Observatory, the products most affected by smuggling are cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, spare parts for vehicles, clothing, pharmaceuticals and medicines.
In Guatemala, food and beverage businessmen estimate that product smuggling during the end of 2018 will increase more than reported in previous years.
Complaints by Guatemalan businessmen regarding the illicit marketing of different types of products have been a constant in recent years. Long-standing calculations detail that of every ten products sold in the country, three are of illegal origin.
The agricultural chemical union of Guatemala states that the illicit commercialization of fertilizers, insecticides and fungicides, represents about 12% of the local market.
According to reports from the Association of the Agricultural Chemical Guild (Agrequima), between August 2016 and the same month in 2018, a investigation of agrochemical packaging was carried out in the union's collection centers, in which several products were identified which did not possess the minimum quality requirements.
It has been reported that six out of ten bottles of liquor consumed in Costa Rica are of illegal origin, and this situation has been attributed to the heavy tax on alcoholic beverages in the country.
An investigation published by Crhoy.com details the figures on the market of illegal alcoholic beverages in Costa Rica.The document concludes that between 2014 and 2017 the value of the illicit liquor market has grown almost 50%.
In Panama, a bill proposes reinforcing coercive measures for customs offenses with penalties ranging from $250, to a fine equivalent to the value of the unpaid taxes.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance explained that the bill proposes "to facilitate greater collection, in any of the instances that sanction the crimes of customs fraud and contraband."
In Costa Rica a considerable increase has been reported in the illegal transfer of agricultural products such as avocados, which have been banned from Mexico for almost three years.
Crhoy.com reports that "... 'The Fiscal Control Police (PCF) reported a change in the trend of items confiscated in the first quarter of 2018. This is because they have detected significant shipments related to products such as avocados and garlic."
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