As Central America Eases Trade, Cheap Meats Arrive

When U.S. lawmakers voted in 2004 to approve a free trade agreement with Central America, more than 100 environmental groups warned that the measure would result in a "deadly disaster" for farmed animals.

The groups argued that highly industrialized "factory farms" would expand across the United States, increasing air and water pollution, emissions of greenhouse gases, and the unethical treatment of animals. Cheap U.S. meat products would also displace food raised in Central America and drive the region's farmers out of business, the organizations said.

Five years later, the effects of the Central America-Dominican Republic-Free Trade Agreement are not fully known. But a new analysis of the lowered trade barriers suggests that U.S. meat, dairy products, and processed foods have indeed become more available regionwide since 1985.

Average tariffs in Central America declined from 45 percent in 1985 to around 6 percent in 2000. As a result, total food imports in the region have doubled and imports from the United States have nearly tripled since 1990, according to a study published last week in the journal Globalization and Health.

"Trade liberalization has really facilitated the availability and desire to consume more processed foods and more meat," said Corinna Hawkes, a researcher at the University of São Paulo in Brazil. "I have no doubt that the market will increase for these types of foods."

The free trade agreement removed many Central American tariffs on U.S. products, and a range of additional tariffs will be phased out during the next two decades.

Poultry quotas and import tariffs in Guatemala and Honduras, the two countries in the region that import the most U.S. chicken, provided harsh disincentives to U.S. exports until trade restrictions were eased in the late 1990s. Total poultry imports in Central America neared 60,000 metric tons in 2006, an increase from some 10,000 metric tons in 1996, according to the study, co-authored by University of Sydney doctoral student Anne Marie Thow.

Regional imports of U.S. poultry and pork are expected to jump even further. The U.S. pork industry estimates that exports to Central America will increase by 20,000 metric tons per year.

The U.S. poultry industry is expected to increase shipments of frozen poultry quarters, portions of the bird that are less desirable to U.S. consumers. Frozen chicken quarters account for an estimated 30 percent of all Central American meat imports from the United States, the study said.

Many advocates of globalization argue that freer trade enables residents of the world's poorest regions to afford more food items. While the study did not analyze market costs, it found that not only have Central American supermarkets become stocked with low-cost foods, but that farmers are importing more affordable farming inputs. Imports of yellow corn, a cheaper input for poultry feed, jumped 283 percent between 1990 and 2006.

Central America also now imports more processed foods and the ingredients used to create them. Processed cheese imports increased 3,215 percent from 1990 to 2006. Imports of frozen potatoes, used to make french fries, have also increased, especially in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. French fries accounted for 23 percent of all fruits and vegetables imported into the region between 2004 and 2006, the study found.

The study authors were most concerned about the effects of trade liberalization on Central America diets. Experience in other regions suggests that as foods become more affordable, as rural residents migrate to urban areas, and as supermarkets expand their presence, obesity and heart disease often follow - a phenomenon known as the "nutrition transition." National surveys report that already, the number of overweight or obese individuals in Central America is increasing 1.5-2 percent annually.

"Diet changes are inevitable," Hawkes said. "But trade has made it that much faster. It's an onslaught."

Ben Block is a staff writer with the Worldwatch Institute. He can be reached at bblock@worldwatch.org.

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