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Article: COFFEE SMUGGLING IN HONDURAS: Damage Worse than a HURRICANE?(tax on coffee leads to smuggling)(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
- Article from:
- Tea & Coffee Trade Journal
- Article date:
- March 20, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Lockwood Trade Journal Co., Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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As Honduras slowly recovers from devastation, the country is faced with yet another challenge.
The illegal smuggling of Honduran coffee through Guatemala is costing the Honduran government over $30 million a year in lost tax revenues, says Oscar Kafati, the country's new minister of industry and commerce.
Kafati, who has spent most of his 70 years in the coffee business, says the problem is getting worse as the price differential grows between Honduran coffee, which is taxed, and Guatemalan coffee, which is not.
"Our production of coffee is one of the biggest in Central America. If we count the part that's smuggled, we're number one," he said. ...