Nicaraguans pay more for beans than on the international market

Although bean production has remained stable at about 5 million quintals per cycle over the past five years, the grain has strengthened its presence in the international market, to the extent that its shipments abroad generated earnings of $155.20 million last year. This contribution, driven by good prices, placed the bean at sixth place in the list of best-selling products, ahead only of gold, coffee, meat, sugar and cheese. However, this has impacted local consumers as they have been paying the same prices as the international market ever since the export boom began.

Before the inflation crisis and the export boom, at the end of 2019, according to the Price Movement Report of the 53 products that make up the basic basket, published by the National Institute of Development Information (INIDE), the price of beans averaged 19.14 cordobas per pound, but It began to rise the following year and reached 34.95 cordobas per pound in January this year, which is about 95 cents on the dollar at the official exchange rate.

Unlike what happens with cheese, which appears in the report of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce (Mific) with a margin of about 50 cordobas less than that published by Inide, with beans both institutions confirm. Which remains above 30 Cordobas. pound.

Also read: Why a pound of cheese sells for 130 cordobas in Nicaragua

Beans become more expensive in 2023

Mific says the price of beans delivered to wholesalers in the last week of February was 3,138.26 cordobas per quintal, more than double the quintal cost of 1,452.45 cordobas in 2019. The retail price in the same week was 32.76 cordobas per pound, about 89 cents per pound.

Furthermore, the MIFIC report noted that bean prices were not skyrocketing during the upward spiral that led to the inflation crisis since 2021 as a result of the devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Rather last year, when the authorities started. The inflation crisis was controlled and the volume of bean shipments exceeded two million quintals.

The average price of a pound of red beans in 2019 was 15.68 cordobas per pound, which was about 46 cents at the average official exchange rate that year, Mifik reports. In 2020 it increased to 18.93 cordobas; The following year it fell to 17.98 cordobas per pound; It will rise to 25.14 cordobas in 2022 and last year it averaged 32.69 cordobas per pound, about 89 cents per pound.

Also read: What happened to the American chicken? 70 million chickens are slaughtered in Nicaragua while egg production increases

It increased by $ 13 per quintal

Interestingly, the price Nicaraguans pay for beans produced by small and medium-sized farmers in the country has increased at the same rate on foreign markets. According to the foreign trade report of the Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN), in 2019, Nicaragua sent 1.63 million quintals of beans abroad and paid an average of $45 for each quintal when it was sold in local markets at 15.68 cordobas per pound. to be done. , that is, 45 cents per pound.

The average price of beans on the international market during 2019 was one percent cheaper than the 46 cents paid in Nicaragua’s local markets. In 2019, bean exports generated $74.47 million. The following year the volume of bean exports increased to 2.13 million quintals, which sold at an average of $54 per quintal; According to BCN details, shipment volume declined to 1.78 million quintals in 2021 and the average selling price fell to $50 per quintal.

In 2022, sales improved and a total of 1.99 million quintals of beans were placed in the external market. During that year the first major increase in prices was recorded in the local markets and it also increased in the foreign market and on average each quintal of beans in the country sold for $59.

Exporters pay more for beans than in the outside market.

Ultimately, 2.10 million quintals were shipped to the international market last year, but the average selling price rose to $72 per quintal. This increase of $13 per quintal brought the total production from these sales to $155.20 million and the grain would go up. several positions in the list of the country’s best-selling products until reaching the sixth position.

The increase was similar to that recorded in the local market, as the price of grain per pound rose from 25.14 cordobas per pound in 2022 to 32.69 cordobas, about 89 cents per pound, during the past year. Additionally, the local price per pound is 17 cents more than the 72 cents the grain fetches in the local market. A situation which, in the opinion of experts, reflects high demand for the product.

According to experts, this increase in demand for grain will be due to the mass emigration of Nicaraguans. A situation that would have turned the grain into a high-demand legacy product in markets where Nicaragua’s migrant population is concentrated.

Surplus production allows export

According to BCN data, the main buyers of beans in 2023 were the United States and Costa Rica, which host a large share of Nicaraguan immigrants; El Salvador and Honduras, which have been traditional buyers of this product; and Spain, which has tripled its purchases over the past five years.

It is unknown whether exporters will continue to increase export volumes during 2024 or keep it within the range of last year’s 2 million quintals. It is also known that the production of the previous cycle was successful and in recent years it was around 5 million quintals, a large part of this production comes from the Apante crop which will end in the coming days, but according to experts, This will not reduce the price of grains like other crops, because before preparation for the next sowing, demand from the external market drives sales.

In the national production, consumption and trade plans of previous years, it was emphasized that the 5 million quintals of grain produced in each production cycle is 1.5 times more than the local demand, which is about 3 million quintals annually, so if its quantity exceeds the international Bean shipments to the market continue to increase, certainly in the 2024-2025 production cycle that will begin in May, the planting area dedicated to this grain that constitutes the basic diet of Nicaraguans will increase.