Browse Data and Analysis

Supermarkets, hypermarkets, and independent food stores, continue expanding in Guatemala; imports of U.S. consumer-oriented products have continued to grow and in 2021, the value of these products reported a record year of $637 million.

Guatemala maintains its 305,000 Ha of coffee, but harvested area is slightly reduced due to higher production costs, both inputs and labor. Production costs raised 32 percent as fertilizer prices continue doubling and migration is negatively impacting labor availability.

Guatemala continues to be a net importer of both yellow corn and rice. Corn area and production in MY2022/2023 are forecast to shrink one percent as some commercial farmers have decided not to plant corn given record high increases of more than 100 percent in fertilizer costs (mainly urea) and a nearly 90 percent increase in oil prices.

In marketing year 2022/2023, Guatemala is forecast to produce 2.6 million metric tons of sugar from sugarcane from a harvested area of 258,000 hectares.

Guatemala is one of the top food processing countries in Central America; meats and bakery and dairy products continue to lead the domestic food processing sector. U.S. suppliers have good opportunities to export bulk, intermediate, and consumer-oriented products that can be used as ingredients for further processing.

The Guatemalan economy relies on foreign exchange generated by international trade, remittances, and the tourism sector. Guatemala represents a growing market for U.S. companies and is a country with relative economic stability.

Biosafety regulatory efforts in the Caribbean remain stalled, and it is yet to be seen whether countries can regain the will and secure the international financing required to fully implement their National Biosafety Frameworks in a harmonized manner.

On January 29, 2021, the Court of Constitution dismissed an opposition lawsuit filed back in 2020 against the biosafety technical regulation approved on October 1, 2019 by the Ministry of Economy as part of the regulatory harmonization process with Honduras.

The HRI report provides the U.S. agricultural exporters current market trends and information on the best product prospects for the Guatemalan market.

Eager to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind it, the Caribbean is doing all it can to attract visitors and kick-start its tourism sector in 2021.

This report contains the list of all the mandatory export certificates required by the Government of Guatemala for U.S. agricultural exports. This report has no changes from its 2020 prior version.

Guatemala has adopted the new Central American Technical Regulation RTCA 67.04.77:20, which establishes specifications for butter. Guatemala has issued Technical Norm 002-2021, to be notified to the WTO for comments, to govern the registration and surveillance of food supplements.