Guatemala’s laboratory industry offers different services, including analysis for the food industry, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, garments and textiles, as well as agriculture production. Laboratories also offer quality control studies for raw materials and inputs such as water and fuel. Studies on the environment or health are also offered. Some of these services are exported abroad to markets like Central America, the Caribbean, Canada, Mexico and South America, adding exports of US$7.44 million on 2017.
After more than 35 years of difficulties measuring exports of services, AGEXPORT made an alliance with the Guatemalan Central Bank to start measuring these exports, including laboratory services, helping the industry display its impact on generation of foreign currencies and on guaranteeing the quality, harmlessness and compliance with international regulations of the more than 4,000 different products that Guatemala exports nowadays, said Mrs. Alba Bran, president of AGEXPORT’s Laboratories commission.
More than 80% of the Guatemalan export products are certified by one of the 44 laboratories members of AGEXPORT, which own international certifications including the ISO 17025. The laboratories commission also seeks to generate economies of scale and have higher exposure by working jointly on the development of new industry-wide projects and establishing alliances with other key stakeholders (national and international).
Some of the most important competitive advantages that Guatemalan laboratories have include the presence of key international companies in Guatemala and being able to offer competitive prices, transforming Guatemala into a world leader on these specialized services. Having a well-developed laboratories industry is also key for the continuous development of a wide range of export products.
We seek to now offer our best practices to small and medium companies through our initiative: GuateLabs Expo. Through this expo, we will give access to this small businessmen and women to a wide range of professional advisors on topics like complying with quality norms, food safety and environmental legislation, said Mrs. Bran.
GuateLabs Expo will take place on March, 2019 at AGEXPORT’s headquarters in Guatemala City and will offer different conferences, discussions on the needs of Guatemalan firms and opportunities offered by laboratories to help small firms grow.
We call all our fellow members of AGEXPORT, other industries and special niches like the food industry, pharmaceuticals, restaurants, agriculture exporters and textile firms to participate at our event and learn useful information to help take good decisions to see their firms expand further. All Guatemalan labs (based on different national and international requirements) help companies comply with the highest standards required by international clients in markets like the European Union and Japan. We guarantee fulfilling these requirements before leaving Guatemala to avoid being sanctioned when entering the foreign market, said Mrs. Bran.
If you wish to participate at the GuateLabs Expo or need further information, please contact us at the following email: guatelabs@agexport.org.gt or give us a call at (502) 2422-3904.
