Mateo Alvarez tends his coffee hills amid shifting market tides

At dawn, Mateo Alvarez walks the narrow footpaths that wind through his shade‑grown coffee hills, greeting the mist with a quiet nod. The rhythmic clatter of the inter‑regional freight train passing nearby is a sound he has grown accustomed to, but today it feels louder, as if echoing the uncertainty on the federal exchange board.

When the exchange posted coffee at 1.45 ₣ per kilogram and yerba mate at 2.10 ₣ per kilogram last Tuesday, Alvarez noted the figures in his notebook, comparing them with the cost sheet he received from the Cooperative Council. The numbers are higher than last quarter, yet the farmer worries that rising freight fees could swallow the gain.

In the small meeting room of the San Vicente Cooperative Council, Alvarez sat with Governor Lucía Báez, Treasury Minister Marcus Eklund, and the council’s market analyst, Carlos Méndez. The discussion centered on a new oil concession approved in Oriente Moderno and its projected impact on the rail‑capacity index that determines freight charges for agricultural exports.