Costa Rica’s pineapple growers have formally asked the Central Bank to explain why the colón keeps strengthening against the dollar, a sign that pressure from the country’s export sector is moving from private grumbling into open confrontation as job losses begin to mount in the agricultural lowlands.
The National Chamber of Pineapple Producers and Exporters, CANAPEP, sent a letter this month to Banco Central de Costa Rica (BCCR) President Róger Madrigal requesting a detailed explanation of the factors driving the colón’s appreciation, including questions about debt issuances, foreign currency flows and the possibility of unusual transactions distorting the market. CANAPEP president Abel Chaves said the colón has appreciated roughly 32 percent since mid-2022, and that exporters can no longer absorb the gap between dollar revenues and colón-denominated costs.
The dollar traded near ₡449.17 buy and ₡455.61 sell early this week, hovering at levels not seen since the modern exchange regime was established in November 2006. A first-quarter analysis from El Financiero found the dollar lost more than ₡43 against the colón in the first four months of 2026 alone.
Farm Closures and 850 Job Losses in the Atlántico
Exporters frustration crystallized last month when Fresh Del Monte Produce announced the closure of four banana farms in Costa Rica’s Atlantic region and the layoff of more than 850 workers. The company cited the exchange rate directly: revenues are earned in dollars, but the bulk of operating costs — wages, social charges, fuel, electricity — are paid in colones. Each dollar exported now converts into substantially fewer colones than it did two years ago, squeezing margins that growers say are already thin.
Costa Rica lost roughly $130 million in banana export value in 2025, with shipments falling from $1.242 billion in 2024 to $1.112 billion, according to figures from the Foreign Trade Promotion Office, Procomer. The Corporación Bananera Nacional, Corbana, and the Asociación de Productores de Banano, Aproban, have both raised the alarm about further losses if the exchange rate remains at current levels.
The melon sector is signaling similar distress. The Cámara de Productores y Exportadores de Melón y Sandía has warned that the 2026-2027 cycle outlook is “reserved,” with anticipated production declines and limited capacity for the new investment needed to keep operations competitive.
Coffee Liquidation Prices Cut Nearly in Half
The Instituto del Café de Costa Rica, Icafé, has documented one of the sharpest impacts on producer income. The liquidation price paid to coffee growers — the final per-fanega payment received once the crop is processed and sold and all costs are deducted — fell to ₡115,754 for the 2025-2026 harvest, down from ₡132,445 in the 2021-2022 cycle.
A fanega is the traditional Costa Rican unit for measuring harvested coffee cherries, equal to roughly 258 kilograms. Icafé attributes the decline almost entirely to the exchange rate: the average dollar value used for liquidations dropped from ₡649.59 in 2021-2022 to ₡459.65 in 2025-2026.
The forecast for the next harvest is starker still. With the exchange rate projected to remain between ₡440 and ₡460 per dollar and record Brazilian production expected to push international coffee prices lower, Icafé estimates the 2026-2027 liquidation price could land somewhere between ₡83,000 and ₡99,000 per fanega — a level that would put many small producers below their cost of production.
For tourists coming here, the strong colón continues to translate into more expensive restaurant tabs, higher dollar-priced hotel rates and reduced purchasing power on dollar incomes. But the more consequential shift is occurring in the rural cantons where bananas, pineapples, coffee and melon are the backbone of local employment. The BCCR has not yet responded publicly to CANAPEP’s letter.
