Browse Data and Analysis

This report highlights the food processing industry, its drivers, key players, and market landscape in the Caribbean Basin. The region relies heavily on imports, and the United States is the largest supplier of food ingredients.

The United States is a major trading partner with the Dominican Republic (DR). The DR is the largest economy in the Caribbean and the seventh-largest economy in Latin America. Since the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) went into effect for the DR in 2007, U.S. agricultural exports to the DR have increased from $1 billion in 2007 to $2 billion in 2024.

In February 2025, Ethiopia’s National Variety Release Committee (NVRC) approved the commercial release of three TELA maize hybrid varieties.

The Caribbean Basin region has a robust and competitive hotel/restaurant/institutional (HRI) sector. Tourism is a major economic driver, accounting for nearly 9 million visitors in 2023, almost 50 percent of which arrived from the United States...

Access to the benefits of modern agricultural biotechnology in the Caribbean Basin remains stifled by the unfinished work of implementing a science-based, risk-management approach to regulate its use.

This report summarizes the list of major export certificates, documentations, and other regulatory requirements to export food and agricultural products to Ethiopia.

This report presents regulatory requirements and standards that must be fulfilled to export food and agricultural products to Ethiopia. The report contains pertinent information on applicable laws, regulations, directives, guidelines, procedures, and key regulatory contact details.

In the Caribbean region, sales value in the retail grocery sector increased by 3 percent in 2023. This is due in part to the rise in tourism in many markets, which is boosting economic growth. The largest grocery retail markets are Trinidad and Tobago, Guadeloupe, and the Bahamas.

Red Sea shipping remains unstable, with attacks on ships transiting this crucial maritime corridor surging recently. This has led to unpredictable shipping schedules, caused freight costs to almost triple, and transit times to more than double.

As tourists flock back to the Caribbean in larger numbers and island economies regain their footing after being challenged by global inflation, competition, and other headwinds, opportunities for U.S. suppliers are slowly emerging. While hurdles remain present on the horizon, U.S. suppliers are finding resilient Caribbean buyers to be excellent partners on the road to commercial success.

Demand for U.S. consumer-oriented products in the Caribbean region reached $1.5 billion in 2022, a 26 percent gain compared to the previous year.

Over a dozen Caribbean countries are Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. With an aim toward meeting their obligations under this agreement, many have been working toward establishing their National Biosafety Frameworks for many years.