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The new Costa Rican government has announced a resumption of Hass avocado imports and proposed abolishing minimum prices for milled rice, following through on campaign promises to respect international law and address rising consumer prices.

The Government of Mexico (GOM) has announced a program to combat food price inflation and scarcity titled “Paquete Contra la Inflacion y la Carestia (PACIC).” Along with PACIC, President López Obrador announced a plan to maintain “fair prices” for the basic food basket, through a voluntary agreement with the private sector, without the use of mandatory price controls.

Resolution 810 of 2021, issued by Colombia’s Ministry of Health and Social Protection (MINHEALTH), is set to go into effect on December 16, 2022. Resolution 810 establishes the technical regulations of the nutrition and front-of-pack labeling requirements for packaged food for human consumption in Colombia.

El Salvador’s coffee production is expected to reach 639,000 sixty-kg bags in marketing year (MY) 2021/22. The Salvadoran coffee sector continues to struggle mainly due to low international prices, climate change, continued coffee leaf rust, and a lack of a long-term strategy that has hindered investment at the farm level. The MY2022/23 crop is forecast to slightly decrease to 619,000 sixty-kg bags.

In MY2021/22, Post projects that table grape production will increase by 15.2 percent, totaling 760,000 MT and exports will increase by 14.2 percent, totaling 600,000 metric tons. For MY2021/22, Post estimates apple production at 1,036,000 MT a 4.8 percent decrease from MY2020/21 on lower planted area.

On Thursday May 12, the Government of Brazil (GOB) cut import tariffs for several categories of goods, focusing on food staples in an attempt to reduce consumer inflation. Import tariffs on beef, chicken, corn, wheat flour, wheat, cookies and bakery products were eliminated through the end of the year.

On November 9, 2020, Colombia’s Ministry of Health, and Social Protection (MINHEALTH) issued Resolution 2013, a regulation that sets mandatory maximum sodium content limits for 59 processed food product categories. Resolution 2013 introduces a new conformity certificate requirement and reduction goals for sodium content in foods.

The Canadian food regulatory authorities opened public consultations on guidance for e-commerce platforms on how to be compliant with relevant food labeling regulatory provisions. Interested stakeholders have until July 8, 2022, to provide comments on this initiative.

FAS/San José projects marketing year 2022/23 coffee production at 1,365,000 60-kilogram bags, as production volume rebounds from a 50-year low in marketing year 2021/22 when higher rates of fungal disease compounded the impact of a gradual downward trend in production.

FAS/Managua projects marketing year 2022/23 coffee production unchanged from the previous year at 2.7 million 60-kilogram bags, as political and economic turmoil in Nicaragua are expected to continue limiting investment in the sector despite strong export prices for the marketing year 2021/22 crop.

On June 16, 2021, Colombia’s Ministry of Health and Social Protection (MINHEALTH) issued Resolution No. 810 establishing the technical regulation for nutrition and front-of pack labeling requirements for packaged food for human consumption, which will go into effect on December 16, 2022. This report includes the original regulation and an English translation.

Post forecasts production at 14.85 million metric tons in 2022, growing two percent due to strong external demand. Production is forecast to set historical record. Consumption for 2022 is forecast at 10.25 million metric tons, slightly reduced from 2021.