2.2.3.- Guatemala
With a share of 14% in Central America’s total export value of fruit, vegetables and ornamentals in 2006, Guatemala is the second largest exporter of these products in Central America. Banana, coffee and sugar are the country’s most important and traditional exports.
The growth of non-traditional exports and the coffee crisis have reduced the share of the three main crops in total exports over the past years. Diversification to reduce dependence on traditional export crops has focused on fresh, frozen, and processed fruit and vegetables, and on flowers, seeds and ornamental plants, all for export to the US and European markets.
Guatemala is characterized by a fundamentally agricultural economy and by a high degree of land concentration (in 2003, date of the last agricultural census, 65% of the land was concentrated in about 2.6% of the farms), by a large indigenous population and by the strong exclusion levels of a large portion of its total population. Agricultural is still the second source of income and the main employer. Exports are diverse and cover vegetables, fruits and ornamentals.
2.2.3.1.- Production
Area of production
Table 2.18 shows the area harvested for the major agricultural crops. Banana is one of the main export products of Guatemala and covers about 26,000 hectares although exports are decreasing. The table shows no big differences in acreages per crop during the last 5 years.
Production quantity
Table 2.19 shows the production quantity for the major agricultural products, according to the data available. Remarkable is the presence of mango, after banana and together with melons the second biggest fruit produced in Guatemala.
2.2.3.2.- Trade
Export
Table 2.20 shows the export value (US$) of the major agricultural products for the sectors covered by this study. With a value of US$ 233 million, banana is Guatemala’s major export crop, covering almost 90% of the total export value of fruits and about 60% of the total export value from ornamentals, vegetables and fruits. After Costa Rica, Guatemala is the second largest exporter of banana in Central America. Other fruits are less important export crops. However, it should be remarked that several fruit crops have increased in export since 2002, especially pineapple and melon (other than watermelon). One other detail to take into account is that most of the exporting companies in Guatemala apply a system of sub-invoicing for tax purposes and therefore in comparison to other countries Guatemala may look a smaller production country compared to other countries, based on export value of agricultural products. For example the production quantity of ‘other melons’ is comparable to Costa Rica but the exported value in US$ is 45% lower.
With a value of US$ 37 million in 2006, Guatemala is the second largest exporter of ornamentals in Central America. However, this is in moderate contrast with Costa Rica, which has an export value of 184 million. Cuttings and foliage (incl. other plant parts) are the main ornamental products for export. Both have increased with about 50% since 2002. Especially the last year (2006) a strong increase can be observed. Cut flowers are exported as well, but to a far lesser amount (US$ 4.2 million in 2006).
The export of vegetables has grown with 35% over de last 4 years, to a value of 57 million in 2006. Especially leguminous vegetables, with a share of 35% in the total vegetable export value in 2006, show an increase of 70% in export since 2002 (e.g. Snow pea and Sugar Snap pea). The second biggest export product regarding vegetables is cabbage with a share of 17% in vegetable export. Vegetables produced in greenhouses for the top segment of the North American market are hardly being exported so far.
Prepared and preserved fruits and vegetables have a share of about 9% of the total fruit, vegetables and ornamental export, with a value of US$ 36 million in 2006. More than 60% consists of fruit and vegetable juices.
Export trade partners
The main importer of ornamentals from Guatemala is the United States, which imports mare than half of all ornamental exports. The Netherlands follows with a share of about 30%.
El Salvador imports quite a big share of the total export of vegetables of Guatemala, about 40% (US$). Fruits are for more than 90% of the total value exported to the United States.
The larger part of fruits from Guatemala is imported by the United States (89%). The prepared and preserved fruits and vegetables exported by Guatemala are broadly divided among different countries and stay for approximately 75% within Central America, with El Salvador as the main importer.
Export to the Netherlands
Remarkable is that the Netherlands play an insignificant role in Guatemalan non-traditional agricultural exports. The main crops being exported are foliage (e.g. leather leaf) and banana. Historically, exports have been focused on North America. Besides that, connections with Europe are (still) limited compared to countries like Honduras and Costa Rica. Nevertheless, it is expected that exports to the Netherlands will increase substantially, especially for fruits and to a lesser extent ornamentals and vegetables like leguminous vegetables (mini vegetables).
Import
In table 2.23 the import value (US$) of the major agricultural products are given for the sectors covered by this study.
Guatemala hardly imports any ornamentals as most consumption is produced locally.
Concerning fruit, in 2006, fruits with a value of almost 36 million us dollars were imported. Grapes and apples together are responsible for two third of the total import value, fruits which can hardly be produced in Guatemala itself due to its climate. Although beans are a large export product, still for a substantial value is being imported.
2.2.3.3.- Agricultural supplies and services
Guatemala is the second producer of Central America of non-traditional products and therefore, there is a large demand for supply products and services.
Agexport in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock has a project group to develop a label of ‘GuateGAP’ based on Good Agricultural Practices in the agricultural export sector. There are no private companies active in consultancy and training. This is mainly being done by agricultural sector organizations or the government.
Most common products are available and commodities can be produced without difficulties of supplies. Greenhouse production or specialties generally require more sophisticated supply materials which are not always available. There is no focus so far from any type of Dutch supply companies on Guatemala except for seed companies and importers of fruits and ornamentals as well as related companies such as peat moss (upcoming market).
There is agricultural software available which was initially designed for the coffee sector. Specific software for other crops will have to be custom made.
