Better Costa Rica, Guatemalan ports will benefit Iowa soybean farmers

February 27, 2025 | Aaron Putze, APR

Ports link countries with commerce. For Iowa soybean farmers, they’re an economic lifeline to the nearly 99% of the world’s population living somewhere other than the United States.

Highly functioning ports go largely unnoticed and unappreciated. Not so with aging facilities. Their deterioration leads to inefficiencies for companies wanting to meet the health and quality of life needs of a growing population.

“We have challenges, and they start with the ports,” said Maria Fernanda Rivera, agricultural engineer and entrepreneur from Guatemala City. “Their decay impacts everything we import and export. Better logistics will improve commerce and relations between our countries.”

Rivera’s comments echoed sentiments shared by a multitude of Central American feed millers, food retailers, restaurant owners and government officials with Iowa farmers and economic development officials participating in a trade mission led by Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig.

Organized by the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) and led by Secretary of Agriculture Naig, the delegation – including Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) directors Brent Swart and Jeff Frank – traversed Costa Rica and Guatemala Feb. 15-21 meeting with multiple grain, feed and integrated production companies, meat and fish retailers and agricultural and logistics officials. The delegation included farmer leaders and representatives from Iowa Farm Bureau, Iowa Corn, Iowa Pork and Iowa Beef Industry Council.

The purpose of the visit was to increase sales of Iowa commodities and products to Costa Rica and Guatemala, better understand the markets and opportunities for growth in both countries and reinforce the importance of caring and relationships between the people of Iowa and Central America.

Both countries are critical trading partners for Iowa and U.S. farmers. Located in the heart of Central America, Costa Rica and Guatemala are home to growing populations demanding more soybean meal, corn, eggs, tilapia, shrimp, pork and beef.

They’re also dealing with headaches caused by ports in dire need of major upgrades to manage an increasingly heavy volume of vessels needing to quickly and efficiently load and unload cargo.

Not keeping pace

For Costa Rica (pop. 5.2 million), whole soybeans and soybean meal dominate the country’s imports. Data courtesy of the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) shows the U.S. dominates market share, accounting for 100% of Costa Rica’s import of whole soybeans and soybean meal.

The Caldera Port, located 50 miles west of the Costa Rica’s capital city of San José, facilitates the importation of these critical feed ingredients. The terminal has a strategic location due to its proximity by road to San José and connections with the country’s national land routes.

Built in the 1980s to move 3 million tons of products, the port moved more than twice that in 2024. The 6.3 million tons of cargo included exports to the U.S. of bananas, coffee, pineapple, sugar and other tropical fruits and the import of U.S. soybean meal, corn, machinery, industrial products and consumer goods.

Featuring just four multipurpose piers and 800 meters of berthing line, the Caldera Port is at risk of collapsing due to the sheer volume of cargo it moves from buyer to seller.

“If you go over 75% you have already reached maximum use,” explained Enrique Arteaga Correa, commercial manager of SPC, the company in charge of operating the port. “We are at more than 90%. It’s a happy problem, but one that leads to great frustration. We are not proud of it.”

Domestic poultry, pork and aquaculture production have experienced significant growth, with the latter largely supported by export markets and capital-intensive investments with U.S. soy collaboration.

“While the access and preferences for our product are in place, the ability of the port to keep pace is a big uncertainty for the U.S. and a liability for the people of Costa Rica,” said Swart, who serves as ISA president. “It also adds cost to the buyer and reduces prices for the seller.”

For soybean farmers, the cost of a vessel waiting to unload has a direct impact on the market price of every bushel of soybeans.

On almost any given day, more than a dozen vessels can be seen idling just outside the Caldera Port waiting to be unloaded. A fee (demurrage) is charged to the charter of a vessel for failing to load or unload its cargo within the agreed time frame.

At a cost of $25,000 per day, some vessels may accrue $700,000 in demurrage. For a vessel hauling 31,000 metric tons of soybean meal, that translates to $22.58 per metric ton, or a cost per bushel of 61 cents.

“Vessels waiting in line is a cost transferred to the exporter, and they transfer it to the consumer,” said Correa. “It’s an added cost due to lack of inefficiency. That’s the reality and it’s a major impact on our reputation because exporters think they are being treated poorly.”

The sun sets over Port Caldera in Costa Rica. In the background, vessels serving the Costa Rican economy wait to unload. Fees associated with the lengthy waits can cost companies chartering the vessels tens of millions of dollars annually. Photo: Iowa Soybean Association/Aaron Putze

Two priorities for Correa and SPC: renewing the company’s contract to operate the port (set to expire in two years) and modernizing the port. He said talks have begun with the Guatemalan government, but progress is slow.

“The work underway now on concessions should have been done 10 years ago,” he said. “The future of this port is a national issue. We need to have a long-term view here.”

Similar story

The same can be said for Guatemala’s Puerta Quetzal. When it opened in 1980, the country’s population was 8 million. Today, it’s more than 18 million.

Last year, U.S. exports to Guatemala were valued at $1.9 billion. That included $288 million of U.S. corn and $254 million of soybean meal. The country also imported $205 million of poultry/eggs, $127 million of dairy products and pork and pork products valued at $117 million.

Like Costa Rica, the U.S. accounts for 100% of Guatemala’s soybean meal imports.

Puerto Quetzal is the country’s largest Pacific Ocean port. Like Port Caldera, it’s struggling to keep pace with a surge in cargo volumes. Last year, vessels waited an average of 22 days to discharge, more than double the previous year. Some vessels waited as long as 45 days, racking up heavy demurrage.

Guatemalan animal and poultry feed manufacturers paid tens of millions of dollars in demurrage last year, with one likening the added cost to “setting money on fire.”

Iowa agricultural leaders join in a ribbon cutting at Cabal, a Guatemalan-based feed, logistics and management company. Founded in 2021, it sources 100% of its soybean meal from the U.S. via Guatemala’s Port Quetzal. Logistical challenges with the port can delay the offloading of incoming vessels by 25-30 days. The ribbon cutting celebrated Cabal’s opening of an additional grain storage facility, vital in providing more timely feed purchasing and processing. Photo: Iowa Soybean Association/Aaron Putze

CMI Aliansa, Guatemala’s largest purchaser of soybean meal and corn, is especially dependent on the port.

“It’s critical for us and we’re working with authorities to improve the situation, including prioritizing food and raw commodities,” said Ricardo Lopas of CMI Aliansa. “This is also a political issue and must be resolved.”

The expansion of Puerto Quetzal is the first step to modernizing Guatemala’s broader infrastructure network, including its railway corridor. U.S. Embassy officials in Guatemala say the efforts will increase employment opportunities and secure regional and global commerce that will benefit Guatemala and the United States.

As part of this initial exploratory phase, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) recently met with private sector representatives and Guatemalan officials to understand the country’s infrastructure priorities. According to the embassy, the delegation also met with port authorities in Costa Rica and conducted technical assessments during a field visit to Puerto Quetzal to gather information on the port’s potential expansion.

Close cooperation

On Feb. 21, the USACE briefed Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo on the initial findings of their visit and discussed next steps. The U.S. and Guatemala committed to continuing close cooperation to formalize a workplan, to include additional feasibility studies, design planning, and capacity building by U.S. subject matter experts for Guatemala’s infrastructure workforce.

USACE and Guatemalan representatives committed to moving ahead as quickly as possible, which comes as music to the ears of Guatemalan food and protein companies like Grupo Cresca.

A Guatemalan leader in egg, poultry and balanced feeds production, the company relies heavily on quality ingredients delivered in a timely manner via Puerto Quetzal.

“I import to produce locally,” said Jose Manuel Segovia, who leads feed acquisitions for the company’s poultry sector. “We still process imports with paper. It can take three weeks just to get paperwork signed by the ministry.”

After vessels wait 2-3 weeks to unload, it takes another two weeks to obtain permits to remove products from the port. In the meantime, Segovia said inventories and prices for raw commodities go higher.

“We’re not using rocks like the Flintstones anymore, but we’re close to it,” he told the delegation of Iowa farmers and ag and economic officials.

USACE’s visit to Guatemala underscores the strategic importance of U.S.-Guatemala relations.

“These collaborations aim to position Guatemala as a regional hub of economic activity by creating jobs and fostering economic growth, while cementing trusted partnerships,” said the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala.

Bottlenecks real

Jeff Frank, who serves as ISA District 4 director, said the ports also lack storage. This makes timely delivery from vessel to processor vital.

“The logistical bottlenecks are real, and they cost money,” said the farmer from Auburn. “Updating their ports, quickening the offload of vessels and moving the product inland where it’s needed will have a direct and positive impact for Iowa soybean farmers.”

“They want more product, and they want to source it from the U.S. because they value the quality of U.S. soy,” Frank added. “Facilitating this increased demand with better logistics and maintaining strong relationships with the people of Costa Rica and Guatemala will be of great benefit to Iowa soybean farmers at a time when we need to diversify markets and move more soybean meal.”

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