Trinidad looking at Costa Rica beef imports

Trinidad looking at Costa Rica beef imports Officials in Trinidad and Tobago are reviewing a proposal to allow beef imports from Costa Rica, and a Costa Rican officials visiting Port of Spain said approval would significantly lower beef prices for consumers in Trinidad & Tobago.
   Juan Carlos Martinez-Priva, director of Procomer, the foreign trade corporation of Costa Rica, told a Port of Spain trade conference Tuesday that a team of Caribbean Community (Caricom) officials visited Costa Rica earlier this year, and finished what he said was a positive report on the prospects for new beef trade. But the trade cannot begin until the Ministry of Agriculture in Trinidad approves beef imports, according to a report in the Trinidad Guardian.
   'The report has to be acceptable to Caricom and the ministry before we can start exporting beef. The report was very positive, but we have to wait,' Martinez-Priva said.
   He said Costa Rica is exporting beef to Jamaica and the United States at prices that would be 'very competitive in Trinidad and Tobago,' and that as soon as the ministry gives the green light, 'you can expect beef at a competitive price.'