Client description: US Foreign Agriculture Market Cooperators

Practice area: Market Research and Analysis

Geographic scope: Central America Region (CAFTA-DR: Nicaragua, Cost Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic)

Industries involved: Food, Beverage, Aquaculture

Products Involved: Soybeans, soymilk, soy proteins, soy ingredients

Services applied: Secondary Research and Desk Analysis, Voice of the Customer, Market Segmentation, Economic Development, Competitive Intelligence, Value Chain Analysis

Business challenge: US Agricultural Marketing Cooperative need to assess the impact of US-China trade disputes in the CAFTA-DR/Central America region; develop and opportunity analysis to increase soy exports to the region, and develop a target list of influential investors and entrepreneurs with whom to partner.

Methodologies: Geo Strategy Latin America conducted extensive secondary research and desk analysis across the region (Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic) looking at market opportunities and conducting competitive analysis. We also conducted qualitative interviews with food and aquaculture manufacturers and distributors and thought leaders and designed and fielded a consumer preference study across the region.

The result: We determined and reported the short-term and long-term affect of the US-China trade dispute on the region. We identified opportunities and created a market attractiveness model and a “sweet spot” quotient to rank countries and markets (food, beverage agriculture) by the ability of the association to influence demand of soy products. Finally, we created an indexable database of key players, investors, and business leaders across the region.