21. #Coffee: Smell the coffee: ten years of EU free trade with Central America

The EU-Central America free trade agreement has recently celebrated its first decade: ten years in which trade in both directions has doubled, and the six countries covered by the agreement – Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Panama – have made significant accomplishments towards their own regional economic integration. Central America exports many high-value agricultural commodities to Europe, including speciality coffees. Food for Europe’s latest podcast looks at the results achieved under the accord and the aspirations embodied by it. We meet a Costa Rican coffee farmer, Luís Campos, on his farm in the hills above San José; we hear from Katrien Pauwels, a Belgian coffee roaster, to whom Luís exports his coffee; Carla Caballeros from the Guatemalan chamber of agriculture, speaks about her hopes for the development of the agreement; and Luis Carazo Jimenez from the European Commission’s DG AGRI discusses how successfully Central American exporters have adapted to the quality and regulatory expectations of European consumers.