Central America is expected to continue to be a growing market for U.S. Pork and Beef according to Ricardo Zúniga, featured speaker at the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Spring Conference in Oklahoma City last week. Zúniga, focused on the role that the Dominican Republic – Central America Free Trade Agreement will play in these exports.
“The most important story is that it’s going to remain a strong market. CAFTA-DR, which is the engine for trade with the region that’s leveled the playing field for U.S. meat exporters, is going to survive in a very difficult environment for free trade agreements. It’s going to be fine. But there are some things to watch that potentially could depress demand,” said Zúniga.
“One is the disruptions caused by the war in Iran. Another is just the general disruptions to CAFTA-DR, the trade issues, and then the possibility of increased deportations from the U.S. because Central America really depends on remittances from the workforce in the United States. And then the last piece is that it’s very dependent on the U.S. economy,” said Zúniga.
“So if things go well in the United States, Central America tends to do well. If there’s a problem in the U.S. economy, then Central America tends to suffer some. USMEF and the producers have a voice in what happens in these agreements. And for example, in the case of CAFTA-DR, which was so important for the success of meat exports to Central America, it was almost dismantled over a 301 investigation involving Nicaragua. And it was a textile industry, but it was industry voices that prevented that from happening and it kept supply chains together and CAFTA together,” said Zúniga.
Audio Reporting by Dale Sandlin and Elizabeth Sanders for Southeast AgNet.