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Saturday, September 12, 2026 · Guatemala CityQ7.6282 per US$+0.00%
ADVANCE GUATEMALA
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In depth

Palm oil: production, exports and sector risks

Dossier
Sectors and investment opportunities08-sectores.md
Domain
Agribusiness: coffee, cardamom, sugarsectores/agroindustria
Room
Economy/economia
Audited
not audited

In 2025 exports of fats and oils totalled US$823 million (Banguat via Prensa Libre). Grepalma states that Guatemala is the world's third-largest exporter with 1.8% of global trade, a trade-association figure to be verified against USDA. In 2023 the planted area was 180,614 hectares (1.66% of the national territory) and exports came to 878,000 tonnes, against 400,000 tonnes in 2014; the Netherlands buys 42.5% of the volume and Spain 18.9% (Grepalma socio-economic statistics 2023; República). The honest constraints are the land and water conflict documented by CEUR-USAC and the requirements of the EUDR regulation in the European market, its main destination.

The research is written in English; quoted figures, source names and the titles of legal instruments stay in the language their source published them in.

Figures

Fats and oils exportsPrensa Libre (datos Banguat)
US$823 million2025
World ranking (trade association)GREPALMA, estadísticas socioeconómicas 2023, tabla USDA (p. 64)
3rd exporter, 1.8% of global tradeno clear vintage
Planted areaGrepalma — estadísticas socioeconómicas 2023
180,614 ha (1.66% of the territory)2023
Export volumeGrepalma — estadísticas socioeconómicas 2023
878,000 t (vs 400,000 t in 2014)2023
Main buyersGrepalma / República
Netherlands 42.5%, Spain 18.9% of volume2023

Caveat

Checked 2026-09-02 in GREPALMA's presentation (p. 64): the exporter table is USDA's — Guatemala 3rd with 900 thousand t and 1.8% of global trade in 2023.

Sources

Organizations named in the answer

  • Prensa LibreConfirms the 10% capital gains tax (art. 92, Decree 10-2012), the taxable base, the 10-day deadline and SAT form 1321Other
  • RepúblicaReports on the closure of SEPAZ and the SAA (2 April 2020) and on the CABI/Cámara del Agro study of the impact of land invasions (14 September 2020)Other

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This layer is research: read from public sources by the archive's own team, every claim cited with the date it was consulted, and audited where it is marked so. It has not entered the verified store — no figure here was fetched back from its source or stamped with a retrieval time — so it wears no red provenance numeral and never mixes with the verified figures.