Browse Data and Analysis

FAS/San José expects a 15 percent decline in Costa Rica’s marketing year 2023/24 orange crop driving production down to 250,000 metric tons on suboptimal precipitation – associated with an El Niño weather system – during the critical fruit development period in 2023.

A July 29 seminar brought together roughly 100 Costa Rican craft brewers, retailers, restauranteurs, and enthusiasts to promote new brewing products and training courses to further develop the Costa Rican craft beer sector.

Genetically engineered crop area planted increased in 2023, though it remained small and limited to cotton for seed and pink pineapples.

Decision making around GE crops is highly politicized in Germany. The German government is conflicted and has not issued an official statement on the EU Commissions proposal to deregulate the genetic engineering law yet.

Representing more than 8 percent of Costa Rica's national economy, tourism is a significant driver of food service demand and wields considerable influence over consumer-oriented product import suppliers to Costa Rica.

With more than 83 million of the world’s wealthiest consumers, Germany is the largest market for food and agricultural products in the European Union.

In August 2023, after more than a decade of political discussions on the restructuring of livestock farming, a new German law on mandatory animal husbandry labeling went into effect.

U.S. rough rice exports have plummeted and the decline of Costa Rican rice production has accelerated sharply following the Government of Costa Rica’s August 2022 tariff rate reduction on imported rice from all origins.

Germany is the third-largest importer of cherries in the world after China/Hong Kong and Russia. From 2010 to 2022, between 52 and 77 percent of the cherries consumed in Germany were imported, with the majority of imports originating in other EU member states.

The Costa Rican retail sector continues to grow with an increasing number of modern supermarkets stocking a growing range of imported products.

This report outlines the regulatory requirements and import procedures for food and agricultural products entering Costa Rica.

This report provides information and guidance on the export certification requirements for U.S. products entering Costa Rica. This report supplements the 2023 Food and Agricultural Import Regulations and Standards (FAIRS) Report prepared by the San Jose Office of Agricultural Affairs.