Hello,

The global Coronavirus pandemic is having an impact on everyone and every industry. Panama recorded its first case last week Monday and as of today there are 69 cases of the virus in the country (seemingly all from people recently arriving from other countries).

To try and curb the further spread of the virus, as of midnight Monday 16th, Panama closed its borders to all non-nationals and non-residents. Any Panamanians and permanent residents arriving in the country are required to self quarantine for 14 days. All bars, restaurants and entertainments venues are also closed for 14 days, while no large gatherings are permitted.

As such, Panama has been very quick to take significant action in order to try and curb the spread of the virus as compared to several other countries. Scientist also suggest that the virus will not survive in hot climates, which should restrict the spread of the virus in this tropical climate as well.

Pineapple Farm Project Update

Our pineapple farm is located in a remote area of La Chorrera, about 35 miles from Panama City. There’re currently no reported cases in this area (or outside Panama City).

The type of work on a pineapple farm means that most workers work fairly isolated. Nevertheless, we have provided our staff with protective masks, additional hand sanitisers and updated/reiterated our hygiene guidelines. In addition, in the event any of our farm workers would fall ill due to the Coronavirus, they will receive full paid leave.

While this global pandemic will unfortunately have a negative impact on all our lives in some way or another, our pineapple farm investors can take heart that they’re contributing in a small part to limiting the effects and spread of the virus. Pineapples are rich in vitamin C, which is a powerful antioxidant and can help remove toxins in our body, as well as boosting our immune system (which is important to combat the virus). We have seen the demand from Europe increase over the past weeks and are now exporting even more pineapples to even more countries in Europe (as well as to Dubai).

The stock market crash as a result of the impact of the Coronavirus on the global economy also justifies our investors’ decision to diversify their investment portfolios with income producing farmland. As we can see first hand now, the returns from producing food are not correlated to the stock market as the demand is always there (and in the case of vitamin C rich fruits & vegetables has actually increased).

Caribbean Beach / Ocean Front & Ocean View Estate Lots Project

As mentioned in our marketing materials, the success of this project is reliant on the completion of a number of infrastructure projects. Most of these projects are already in progress with construction ongoing.

There are currently no reported cases of the Coronavirus in or near the Belen area and while restaurants and bars have been temporarily closed in Panama, construction is still continuing as normal. As such we anticipate very minimal impact on the completion of these projects at the moment.

We know that several investors were planning to come and visit the project site in March and April. With current travel restrictions in place though, we do encourage anyone who wanted to come on a tour not to travel, but instead contact us to discuss alternative options.

James Gooden

C.E.O. Latam Invest Co