Wholesale prices of white maize were stable or declined across the subregion in October 2025, as the start of the main season harvest provided downward pressure following sustained increases during the prolonged lean season. In Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, white maize prices increased from May to September 2025, driven by concerns over the impact of delayed and erratic seasonal rains on the main primera crop yields and declined in October with the start of the harvest. In Guatemala, prices were close to their October 2024 levels, while in El Salvador and Honduras, prices were over 30 percent higher than one year earlier, reflecting tight market supplies. In October 2025, prices of white maize followed mixed trends across most monitored markets in Mexico, reflecting improved availabilities from the start of the main season crop harvest and were lower than the previous year, due to larger year-on-year import volumes from January to August 2025.

In October 2025, wholesale prices of black beans were stable in Guatemala, in line with adequate market availabilities and were about 16 percent lower year-on-year on account of larger yearly import volumes. Across the markets in Mexico, wholesale prices of imported and domestically produced black beans declined in September and October, eased by ample availabilities from the minor season harvest. Prices were below their level of October 2024, due to large market supplies from the higher year-on-year 2024 outturn, compounded by above-average import amounts from September 2024 to August 2025.

Wholesale prices of red beans declined seasonally across the markets in Honduras in October and were up to 25 percent higher than the previous year, due to tightened market supply conditions from the year-on-year reduction in import volumes during the January to August 2025 period. In El Salvador, wholesale prices of red beans remained stable month‑on‑month and were higher on a yearly basis, as the upward pressure exerted by the delayed start of the harvest was partially offset by higher year-on-year import volumes. In Nicaragua, the main red bean exporter in the subregion, retail prices of red beans registered slight seasonal increases for four consecutive months from June to September, ahead of the start of the harvest in October, and were slightly higher than the previous year.

In the Dominican Republic, retail prices of rice remain stable month‑on‑month in October, and were close to their year-earlier levels, as ample supplies from the good domestic output in 2025 offset the decline in year-on-year imports. In Costa Rica, wholesale prices of rice (second quality) remained nearly unchanged month-on-month in October, reflecting adequate market availabilities from the ongoing main season harvest. Larger year-on‑year import volumes, coupled with declining international prices, exerted downward pressure on prices, which were about 6 percent below their level of the previous year. In Haiti, retail prices of domestically produced maize meal and black beans were mostly unchanged month-on-month in September, as larger seasonal supplies from the main season harvest partially eased inflationary trends. Similarly, prices of imported rice, vegetable oil and wheat flour remained stable across the markets in September, mostly reflecting unchanged market supplies. Prices of both domestically produced and imported food items remain largely above the five-year average. The expansion of armed gang governance beyond the Port-au-Prince area further limited access to markets, particularly in urban areas.