Browse Data and Analysis

The Caribbean Basin region continues to experience growth, driven primarily by the steady rise in tourism, which in turn impacts consumer demand.

Venezuelan agricultural imports in 2024 grew 9 percent year-on-year to $3 billion. Agricultural imports experienced a 15 percent year-on-year increase in volume, driven by rising demand and a slight reduction in import prices.

This report identifies the export certification requirements for agricultural and food products.

This report is an annual update of Venezuela’s agricultural product import standards and enforcement mechanisms for U.S. exporters of agricultural commodities, foods, and beverages.

Market year (MY) 2025/2026 Venezuelan sugar production is forecast to grow upward to 415,000 metric tons on account of steady yields, continued access to crop inputs, and sustained profit margins within the sugar industry.

FAS (Post) forecasts Venezuelan market year (MY) 2025/2026 corn production to reach 1.2 million metric tons (MMT), a 14 percent decrease year-on-year due to a significant drop in seed availability for the summer planting season.

This report highlights the food processing industry, its drivers, key players, and market landscape in the Caribbean Basin. The region relies heavily on imports, and the United States is the largest supplier of food ingredients.

The United States is a major trading partner with the Dominican Republic (DR). The DR is the largest economy in the Caribbean and the seventh-largest economy in Latin America. Since the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) went into effect for the DR in 2007, U.S. agricultural exports to the DR have increased from $1 billion in 2007 to $2 billion in 2024.

The Caribbean Basin region has a robust and competitive hotel/restaurant/institutional (HRI) sector. Tourism is a major economic driver, accounting for nearly 9 million visitors in 2023, almost 50 percent of which arrived from the United States...

The Venezuelan private sector supports biotechnology use and application. Nevertheless, the Venezuelan authority maintains a ban on the domestic use and research of modern biotechnology-derived agriculture.

Access to the benefits of modern agricultural biotechnology in the Caribbean Basin remains stifled by the unfinished work of implementing a science-based, risk-management approach to regulate its use.

FAS estimates Venezuela corn production at 1.36 million metric tons for the new market year (MY) 2024/2025 on a planted area of 350,000 hectares. Significant economic uncertainty persists following the July 28, 2024, presidential election, and higher inflation and a scarcity of U.S. dollars will likely inhibit increased corn acreage and limit yields.