Costa Rica: Producers lose ¢15 billion due to potato imports

Potato and onion imports made in recent months have caused a loss of ¢15 billion to producers in the province of Cartago.

This was reported to the Legislative Assembly before the Cartago Commission.

Cristóbal Gómez, of the Irazú Horticulturists Association in Tierra Blanca, indicated that 9 million kilos of onions were imported last year. This generated profits for importers of ¢4.5 billion and losses for them of ¢15 billion.

"Even if we have a potato price of ¢100, if importers pressure the Minister of Agriculture, he has to give a permit to import it," he complained.

According to farmers, at least 3 million kilos of onions and 4.5 million kilos of potatoes are consumed in Costa Rica each year.

In 2023, bulb imports reached 3% and by 2024 they rose to 30%.

Gómez complained that last year, purchases were made abroad, even though local production was at its peak. Furthermore, prices are being pushed up.

Another issue raised in Congress was that other players not linked to the agricultural sector are entering the market, which directly affects farm workers.

“We’ve always told the minister to defend the sector. There used to be four importers, but now there are more than 600. When import applications are mismanaged, it leads to people unrelated to the sector entering the market. There are people and household appliance or toilet paper companies bringing in cheap potatoes and they have stalls at the National Food Supply and Distribution Center (Cenada). This affects the market,” he added.

Last month, Roger Madrigal, president of the Central Bank of Costa Rica, suggested importing potatoes and tomatoes to mitigate the price increases of recent months.

Over the last year, tomato prices increased by 47.7% and potato prices by 43.18%.