The Cabinet Council gave permission to the Commission for Licensing of Contingency Tariffs to place a request for an ad hoc quota to meet the coffee shortage in the amount of 32 million quintales.
The announcement of the cabinet decree was supported by the Minister of Agriculture, Emilio Kieswetter, who said the import period for this contingency measure will be from June 20, 2011 to September 15, 2011.
The Minister also reported that that quota will be identified as raw material and import customs duty of 3% of the value of the cost of insurance and freight (CIF) will be payable .
According to the decree in question companies entitled to participate in the quota are those coffee millers and roasters authorized by the Ministry of Commerce and Industries who conform with all current regulations.
Source: Presidencia de Panamá
More on this topic
April 2011
Current supplies only meet internal demand until August.
For the first time in Panama's history, the country's coffee industry will have to import around 40,000 hundredweight of grain to supply the local market from September.
Current stocks show 122,000 hundredweight available, of which 60,000 will be exported.
March 2012
The country will import 1.3 million quintals in order to compensate for current low crop yields.
The import of an initial quota of 1.3 million quintals of rice to meet domestic demand, was approved by the Agri-Food Rice Chain, which is a body composed by producers, millers, traders, consumers and agricultural authorities.
January 2009
High quality coffee generated $79.4 million in exports during the 2007-2008 harvest, a total of 2.1 million quintals.
According to news reports from elsalvador.com "Expectations for the 2008-2009 harvest is that special coffee exports will grow 30%, since as of December 31 thousand quintals compared to 118 thousand quintals of commercial coffee had been sold, reported Luis Rodriguez of the CSC."
October 2011
Administrative delays by the government have forced producers to change the decision to import 40 quintals to ensure supplies of onions for November and December.
The agreement that had been reached by producers and the government has been suspended, as producers argue that due to delays in the importation authorization process, entry of the imported onions would coincide with local harvest and would therefore lower prices.
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