And while the minister has high hopes for the overall agriculture industry, the cattle trade into Guatemala has still not been regularized. That means that, unlike Mexico, Belize's cattle is still going through "the back door" into Guatemala. And according to the minister, it likely won't be formalized any time soon.
Hon. Jose Mai - Minister of Agriculture
"That again is another thing that we need to do. And I repeat I think what former CEO Alpuche said, you cannot build an industry off an informal market that's why it was critical for us to establish that formal market in Mexico while trying to work our way into Guatemala. We're still a far away from that because Guatemala state doesn't have a traceability system in place like what we have so cattle are still getting in there and they're still getting away with it but in the very near future they will start to implement the traceability program and it will be tougher, secondly, one of the problems that exists, the transfer of funds is always problematic and that has to be working out too but yes, to answer your question, that is our objective, to try and formalize the market into Guatemala while trying to maintain the cost as low as possible because you can trade cattle in Mexico but because of all the high cost because of the formalities in place and logistical preparation, that's what makes it expensive so we need to find a way to manage it."
