Hurricanes and Covid-19 rattle the coffee trade in Honduras

Located slap-bang in the middle of Central America, Honduras has long suffered from an image problem. Gang violence, political instability, corruption, and crippling poverty rates have long plagued the country of 9.5 million inhabitants. But what is less known is that Honduras is the largest coffee producer in Mesoamerica, the third-largest in the Americas, and among the world’s top five.

Fifteen of Honduras’ 18 departments are home to large coffee plantations, with more than 105,000 farmers working with the crop. Production hit a peak at the end of 2019. In the first six months of the 2019-2020 harvest, Honduras’ coffee exports hit a total of USD 468 million, 10 percent more than the previous year.

However, this profitable and job-creating industry is in jeopardy, largely thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. While Honduras has been far from the...