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Saturday, September 12, 2026 · Guatemala CityQ7.6282 per US$+0.00%
ADVANCE GUATEMALA
Back to the researchIn research — sources cited, not yet in the verified archive

In depth

Structure of the cardamom chain and its exporters

Dossier
Running an agro-export operation20-agro-exportar.md
Domain
Exporting agricultural produceagro-exportar
Room
Trade/comercio
Audited
Audited

The cardamom chain involves ~350,000 producing families and ~1 million people (AGEXPORT Hoy, verified), with production in Huehuetenango, Quiché, Alta Verapaz, Izabal and Zacapa; the figure of '~45,000 intermediaries' does not hold up — 45,000 appears in industry material as tonnes exported per year. The ADECAR association is led by three companies that export more than 80%: Agronómicas de Guatemala, Monte de Oro S.A. del Trópico and CARDEX (AGEXPORT's sector page was read through a snippet; it returned a 403); CARDEX describes itself as the world's largest exporter. The asset that can be bought is the processing-and-export operation. Access to the Middle East has been won but suffers logistical shocks from closures in the region (dossier 08); AGEXPORT alluded to a recent 'situation' at CARDEX that should be characterized before being cited.

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

Producing families / people in the chainAGEXPORT Hoy
~350,000 / ~1 million2025
Export concentration (3 companies)AGEXPORT sectores (snippet)
>80%n.d.

Caveat

exact shares still to be verified; the AGEXPORT page returned a 403

Sources

Organizations named in the answer

  • Agronómicas de GuatemalaOne of the three exporters that concentrate more than 80% of the cardamom; the asset that can be bought is the mill-and-export operationCompany case
  • Monte de Oro S.A. del TrópicoOne of the three exporters that concentrate more than 80% of the cardamomCompany case
  • CARDEXA cardamom exporter that describes itself as the world's largest; a member of AGEXPORT's Cardamom CommitteeCompany case

Directory of organizations

Related records

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.