The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) reported on Monday on the advice it provides to a group of Hass Tarrazú avocado producers to export the fruit to Europe, despite the fact that the country has a shortage of this fruit, due to the restriction maintained to import avocado of Mexican origin. This situation has led to the kilogram of avocado exceeding ¢ 6,000 in supermarkets.
In spite of seeing with good eyes the opportunity for the national producers, this position of the MAG was not well received by those who have defended the need to eliminate the barrier to the Mexican avocado, imposed by the same ministry.
It is a good effort of the national producer, but MAG should be more concerned about the national market. We have a collapsed market: it is more expensive to buy a kilo of avocado than a kilo of steak and contraband has grown,”
said Randall Benavides, of the Chamber of Exporters and Importers of Perishable Products.
Benavides believes the national production is still very incipient and has many deficiencies in quality. In his experience, up to 30% of the national Hass avocado should be discarded.
Meanwhile, the box of Mexican avocados costs $15, but in Costa Rica we must buy the Chilean avocados for $38; all because of a restriction that lacks scientific support,”
claimed Benavides.
For Erick Ulate, president of the Consumers Association of Costa Rica, the effort of the national producers is worth highlighting, because the European market is very demanding, but it does not solve the mess at the local level.
The problem of the internal supply of Hass avocado, as a result of the measure established by the State Phytosanitary Service against the importation of avocado from Mexico, is not solved by consumers. We believe that the Government of the Republic sacrificed consumers to give relevance to another player in the market,”
said Ulate.
The increase in prices and the subsequent commercial conflict with Mexico came from the restrictions that Costa Rica imposed on Mexican avocados in May 2015, after more than two decades of uninterrupted trade , due to the alleged presence of a the Avocado Sunblotch Viroid.
At the end of March, President Luis Guillermo Solís agreed with his counterpart from Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, to find a solution to the avocado conflict between both countries and to close the process that was opened in the World Trade Organization against Costa Rica. However, the situation has remained unchanged.
In 30 months, the price of avocado has accumulated a growth of 40% , according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Inec). For the same period, the Consumer Price Index barely accumulated a variation of 2.85%.