Through at least 47 clandestine posts on the border between the two countries there is illegal circulation of tomatoes, yams, avocados, plantains and bananas.

Eduardo Carles, Minister of Agricultural Development in Panama, told Prensa.com that, in the case of bananas and plantains, “… producers sell them in Costa Rica when the price falls in the local market …. and Costa Rican merchants do the same in the Panamanian market. “

In the case of onions, the same thing happens. Panamanian authorities detected that in some cases the product is imported for local consumption, but ends up being resold in Costa Rica. 

“… They state that this practice has led to Central American commercial trucks  entering Panama through hidden trails in search of goods. In the quarter June to August 2016 125,290 hundredweight of onions came into the country, 80,678 hundredweight more compared with the same period last year, according to statistics compiled by Aupsa. In August alone 60,138 hundredweight of onions were imported. The purchase of imported bulbs, beyond the alleged smuggling problem, competes for space on the shelves of supermarkets and street markets with 20 million hundredweight of onions available from local production.”