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The following excerpt is from a March 9, 2010 article published by Commodity Online. Click here to read the article in its entirety.
GUATEMALA CITY (Commodity Online) : Central American republic of Guatemala said its sugar exports to neighbor Mexico surged to close to 200,000 metric tons this fiscal.
According to Guatemalan Sugar Growers Association, this compares to last year where Guatemala didn’t export one single ton of sugar to Mexico from the 2008-09 harvest.
The surge in Guatemalan sugar shipments to Mexico comes as Mexico’s 2009-10 harvest has fallen behind the year-ago pace by more than 15%, widening the local supply shortage created by Mexico’s harvest last year that also ended sharply below expectations…
Click here to read the rest of the article, or here to read more articles related to the Guatamalan economy.
The following excerpt is from a March 1, 2010 article published by Reuters. Click here to read the article in its entirety.
More coffee drinking coupled with climate change have reduced supplies of beans, producers said at an international conference over the weekend.
“There is already evidence of important changes,” said Nestor Osorio, the head of the International Coffee Organization, which represents 77 countries that export or import beans. “In the last 25 years the temperature has risen half a degree in coffee producing countries…
Click here to read the rest of the article, here to read more articles related to the Guatemalan economy, or here to read articles related to the Guatemalan environment.
The following excerpt is from a February 26, 2010 article by The Abundance Farming Project (AFP), and hosted by Google News. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
GUATEMALA CITY — Coffee producers say they are getting hammered by global warming, with higher temperatures forcing growers to move to prized higher ground, putting the cash crop at risk.
“There is already evidence of important changes” said Nestor Osorio, head of the International Coffee Organization (ICO), which represents 77 countries that export or import the beans.
“In the last 25 years the temperature has risen half a degree in coffee producing countries, five times more than in the 25 years before,” he said.
Sipped by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, coffee is one of the globe’s most important commodities, and a major mainstay of exports for countries from Brazil to Indonesia.
But producers meeting in Guatemala this week are in a state of panic over the impact of warming on their livelihoods…
Click here to read the rest of the article, here to read more articles related to the Guatemalan economy, or here to read more articles realted to the Guatemalan environment.
The following excerpt is from a February 25, 2010 article pubished by The Guatemala Times. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
Guatemala – The green Gold of Guatemala is Cardamom. 23,000 tones of cardamom are cultivated in Guatemala annually.
This makes Guatemala the world’s largest exporter. Guatemala’s cardamom production sets the prices in the global market. When the production of Cardamom decreases in Guatemala, the prices on the international markets go up. Guatemala exports its entire crop to the Middle East where cardamom is used as an ingredient in drinks and food. When the quality and quantity of the spice from Guatemala drop, global prices climb.
United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Pakistan, Jordan, Syria and Kuwait consume Guatemala’s “green gold”…
Click here to read the rest of the article, or here to read more articles related to the Guatemalan economy.
here is an account of countries around the world with educational shortcomings. Guatemala is on the list of countries where over 30% of young adults have fewer than four years of education. I encourage everyone to skim the article as it’s really quite eye opening.
I think some of the solutions discussed in the article would be a good start, but I question how well they would solve the root causes of a struggling education system. Private sector education is difficult to roll out to the broad community, which presents an accessibility issue. Performance related pay might actually dissuade potential candidates from entering the profession.
Once again, the article can be found here
The following excerpt is from a February 25, 2010 article published by The Wall Street Journal Online. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
GUATEMALA CITY (Dow Jones)–Harvesting of Guatemala’s current 2009-10 coffee crop continues at slow pace and weather problems are making a recovery more difficult, Guatemala’s National Coffee Association, or Anacafe, said Thursday.
“We are still sticking to our last forecast, but the harvest in the eastern coffee producing regions has not been good,” Anacafe President Ricardo Villanueva told Dow Jones Newswires.
Villanueva said that although Anacafe still hopes Guatemalan coffee production in the 2009-10 cycle will end “a bit above production” in the last harvest year, output continues to be “well below the yields” seen in a harvest with normal weather…
Click here to read the rest of the article, or here to read more articles related to Guatemalan economics.
Here is an article on recent support of Guatemala by the European Union (EU) to the tune of 33.8 million Euros.
“Guatemala City. The EU new initiative supports the five strategic objectives of the Strategic Plan for Food Security and Nutrition (PESAN, Plan Estratégico de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional) from 2009-2012 and will benefit the entire Guatemalan population, with particular attention to the most vulnerable rural population. The donation of the European Union for this program amounts to 33.8 million Euros (about 400 million quetzals).”
What I appreciate most about this EU effort is its focus on preventing future food crises rather than simply alleviating current problems in the form of food subsidies. The ultimate goal, of course, is sustainable food safety and nutrition in Guatemala, which is key to a larger public health initiative.
Please click here for the article.
The following excerpt is from a February 12, 2010 article published by Business News Americas. To read the entire article please click here.
Guatemala’s US$12bn technological corridor project (CTG) to link ports on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans will get underway in June this year, northeastern municipalities’ association head Álvaro Olavarrueth told BNamericas.
The corridor will be 327km long and 140m wide, spanning the Izabal, El Progreso, Zacapa, Chiquimula, Jalapa and Jutiapa departments, and will include a four-lane highway, cargo rail line, and interoceanic oil and gas pipelines. The initiative also involves the construction of two new ports in Izabal and Jutiapa departments, as well as an airport.
The project, first conceived some ten years ago as a “dry canal”, will be funded almost entirely by the private sector via concessions…
Click here to read the rest of the article, or here to read more articles related to the Guatemalan economy.
The following excerpt is from a February 3, 2010 article published in The New York Times. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
In Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, they wait on corners for odd jobs, sending as much money as they can back home to Guatemala. They gather at the small churches that double as community centers. They sleep in apartments crowded with friends and family.
And when members of the community die, as five did in a terrible blaze last weekend, they reach into meager savings to help send the bodies back home.
…
The workers say they are here simply to make money and, when they do, they try to send as much as possible to wives, children, parents and siblings. But recently there has not been enough to pay for themselves, let alone to subsidize others, so they come out again the next day, and stand in the cold waiting for work, seven days a week…
Click here to read the rest of the article, or here to read articles about the Guatemalan Economy.
The following excerpt is from a January 26, 2010 article published by The Seattle Times. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
Reuters reports that Starbucks has reduced purchases of Costa Rican coffee this year. Guatemalan growers said in December that Starbucks was slow buying their coffee, too, and some speculated then that the company was angling for lower prices…
Click here to read the rest of the article, or here to read articles about the Guatemalan Economy.
The following excerpt was taken from an article published in Taiwan News on January 15, 2010. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
Taipei, Jan. 15 (CNA) Vice President Vincent Siew said Friday that the government will continue to promote investment in Guatemala and that a proposed investment by a major Taiwanese business group could greatly benefit the Central American country.Siew, in a meeting with a delegation led by Guatemala Economics Minister Ruben Morales Monroy, noted that since the two countries signed a free trade agreement (FTA) in 2006, Guatemala exports to Taiwan have increased significantly.
Expressing the hope that the trend will continue so as to help Guatemela’s economic growth, Siew said, however, Taiwan investment in the country is still not high.
“But Taiwan will continue to promote this aspect,” Siew said. The Formosa Plastics Group is interested in investing in Guatemala, and the if plan goes through, it will be of great benefit to the Central American country, he added.
To read the rest of the article, please click here. To read more about the Guatemalan Economy, click here.
The following excerpt is from a January 10, 2010 article from mydigitalfc.com, out of India. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
(emphasis added)
Since early 2006, cardamom prices have been on an upward trajectory. As the harvesting season ends, there are reports of lower arrivals in the mandis in Kerala, a key cardamom-producing state. Prices of the aromatic spice have already touched a record high of Rs 1,000 per kg. While demand for spice has been consistently on the rise in India, the key reasons for the bullish trend in prices during the last two-three months is higher export demand and fall in production. Since mid-October, when festival demand started picking up, especially in North India, the rates have been shooting up. The major producers of cardamom are Kerala (70 per cent), Karnataka (20 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (10 per cent).
However, Ajitesh Mullick, incharge of agri-research at Religare Commodities, believes that the main reason for the rise in prices is the reported fall in production in Guatemala, where floods in cardamom growing areas have reportedly affected the crop. Reports indicate that production in the Latin American country declined to 14,000-15,000 tonnes in 2009 from 19,000-20,000 tonnes in 2008.
Click here to read the rest of this article, or here to read more about the Guatemalan Economy.
To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
Look for a profile on Farmer to Farmer in the next few days!
Sunday, January 10, 2010 7:06 AM CST
For THE NEWS
GLENWOOD CITY – As economies struggle around the globe, one small, Wisconsin-based nonprofit is gearing up to increase its support of small coffee growers in Latin America.
Farmer to Farmer began importing high quality, shade-grown coffee from the Lake Atitlan area of Guatemala in 2000, a time when coffee prices had plummeted worldwide. This year, the organization expanded its offerings to include a line of certified organic Honduran coffee, and it is exploring a source for certified organic, Guatemalan beans.
Farmer to Farmer has recently contracted with Cari Witcher of Downsville, to help market the coffee directly and through retailers. A long-time member and former board member, Witcher’s enthusiasm for and knowledge about the organization and its coffee project have been enhanced by her five visits to Guatemala with other Farmer to Farmer members.
Greater, more reliable income
The group’s goal is to significantly increase sales in order to support more small farmers in Latin America with a fair price for their coffee. Being able to count on a higher price gives these families an income security they would not otherwise have. World coffee prices are around 60 to 70 cents per pound, and fair trade certification requires a minimum payment to growers of $1.26 per pound, $1.41 minimum for certified organic (www.globalexchange.org).
Farmer to Farmer pays $2.07 to $2.50 per pound to the grower or to the cooperative of growers. Because the street price for coffee fluctuates daily, this fixed price is very important to the growers and can be nearly three times what they might receive on the open market.
To read the rest of the article, please click here.
The following excerpt is from an August 27th, 2009 article published by the Economist. This article does a great job of highlighting some public health issues facing the nation. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
It is hardly one of Latin America’s poorest countries, but according to Unicef almost half of Guatemala’s children are chronically malnourished—the sixth-worst performance in the world. In parts of rural Guatemala, where the population is overwhelmingly of Mayan descent, the incidence of child malnutrition reaches 80%. A diet of little more than tortillas does permanent damage.
This chronic problem has become acute. Higher world prices for food have coincided with a recession-induced fall in money sent back from Guatemalans working in the United States (remittances equal 12% of Guatemala’s GDP). Drought in eastern Guatemala has made things worse still. Many families can scarcely afford beans, an important source of protein, and must sell eggs from their hens rather than feed them to their children.
Click here to read the rest of the article.
The following is an excerpt from an article published on December 29, 2009 in Brunei FM World News. To read the article in full, please click here.
GUATEMALA, Dec 29 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – A unit known as the National Coordinating Cell of the Euro Solar Programme (CNC) was created in Guatemala.
Official paper El Diario de Centro America reported that unit created by the Energy and Mine Ministry would encourage solar energy generation, mainly in the rural area.
The paper said that the government stressed the importance of electrifying the country, as stated in the constitution, with state and private sector involvement.
The government will also boost the use of new, renewable sources of energy, as well as their rational use and to attain energy self-sufficiency in the country.
The programme will be sponsored by the Ministries of Education and Public Health and Social Security thus allowing rural populations to access solar energy for community use, the text reads.
To read the remainder of this article, please click here.
The following excerpt is from a November 3, 2009 article published in The Guatemala News. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
In a new Survey on Remittances 2009, Children and Adolescents, the eighth in this IOM-Guatemala series and jointly produced with UNICEF, confirms the negative impact of the financial crisis on children and adolescents in Guatemala. The decline in remittances from family members abroad has forced tens of thousands of children to leave school and find work to supplement the family income.
Amongst the 3,000 households interviewed by IOM and UNICEF, 8.7 per cent of the children between 7 and 17 years-old can no longer attend school and 7.4 per cent or 92,905 children of the same age have been forced to find jobs to supplement the family income. “Forty-two per cent of these children were in school in 2008. This confirms the direct impact of the financial crisis on the choices families are making,” explains Delbert Field, IOM Chief of Mission in Guatemala.
Click here to read the rest of the article, or here to read more about Economics & Guatemala.
The following excerpt is from an October 15, 2009 article published by Alert Net. To view the article in its entirety, please click here.
Written by: Anastasia Moloney
BOGOTA (AlertNet) – Child malnutrition is costing Latin American governments billions of dollars every year and is slowing down economic growth in the region, United Nations’ research shows.
Economic losses due to long-term child malnutrition amounts to an average of up to three percent of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to U.N. studies focusing on more than 10 Latin American countries since 2007. ”There’s a clear relationship between child malnutrition economic loss, productivity and competitiveness,” said Alejandro Chicheri, WFP’s information officer for Latin America.
While the human cost of child malnutrition, such as physical and mental damage in children, has been well-documented, analysts are only just beginning to calculate the economic toll.
…
“Hunger is a social and moral issue but it’s also an economic issue too,” said Chicheri. “Targeting malnutrition makes economic sense.” Getting Latin American governments to reposition chronic malnutrition as part of their long-term economic development plans is vital, and it may be the silver bullet that they need to break the hunger and poverty cycle, Chicheri said.
Click here to read the rest of the article, here to read more about the 2009 Food Crisis, or here to read more about Economics & Guatemala.
The following excerpt is from a September 30, 2009 article published by the BBC. To view the article in its entirety, please click here.
By Alberto Najar
BBC Mundo
The political crisis in Honduras is having a crippling effect on trade in Central America, with Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica losing millions of dollars of trade every day…
The ongoing political deadlock in Honduras has come at a high price for Guatemalan businesses.
Javier Zepeda, president of the country’s Chamber of Industry, says: “When the border is closed, our trade with Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama is affected, because we can only go via El Salvador.”
…It is yet another blow for Guatemala, where a state of disaster was declared two weeks ago because of a drought which has caused chronic malnutrition among the population.
Click here to read the rest of the article, here to read more about Economics & Guatemala, or here to read about the 2009 food crisis.
The following excerpt is from an article published on September 25, 2009 by TIME. To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
By Ezra Fieser / Quetzaltenango
Ever since Jesuit monks brought coffee to Guatemala three centuries ago, raising the beans has been a losing business for small farmers. Conditions are miserable — try lugging 100 lb. of fertilizer up a mountain — and even though coffee is the world’s second most valuable traded commodity, after oil, the money it brings in is measly. “It’s not enough to live on,” says Luis Antonio, who has grown coffee near Quetzaltenango, in Guatemala’s western highlands, for three decades but gets deeper in debt each year. “What we earn isn’t enough to buy food for our children.”
Antonio and the world’s 25 million other small coffee growers don’t have a lot of career alternatives. So you’d think they would be enthusiastic about Fair Trade — a global campaign that for 25 years has sought to bring struggling Third World farmers, including Antonio, out of poverty by paying them higher-than-market prices for everything from coffee to quinoa. Along the way, it has recruited retail giants like Starbucks, which is the globe’s largest purchaser of Fair Trade — certified coffee.
Click here to read the rest of the article, or here to read more articles related to the Economics & Guatemala.
The following excerpt is from an article published by Reuters/AlertNet on September 24, 2009. To read the article in its entirety, please click here. To view the report on which the article is based, please click here.
As the leaders of the rich world meet in Pittsburgh this weekend to discuss the economic crisis, Christian Aid launches a report highlighting the way in which derisory tax rates deprive poor countries of billions in lost revenue.
Developing country governments have for decades charged multinational companies seeking to exploit their natural resources very low tax rates, under pressure from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Undermining the Poor focuses on the tax policies of three countries in Latin America – Guatemala, Peru and Honduras.
Guatemala is a particularly stark example of a country suffering real hardship because of poor taxation policies. While the average tax take for Organisation for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD) countries was 35 per cent of GDP, in Guatemala in 2008 it was just 11.3 per cent.
‘Even as the food crisis deepens in Guatemala, much needed revenue which could be used to alleviate malnutrition is being lost through the woefully inadequate tax rates charged to companies mining precious minerals,’ said Ms Kumar.
Click here to read the rest of the article, or here to read more about the 2009 food crisis.
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