What Happened
In Panama’s countryside, raspadura continues to be made the traditional way: cane is cut, cleaned and crushed in a trapiche, then the juice is cooked for hours until it thickens into an amber syrup and is poured into wooden molds. The process remains rooted in rural labor, animal power and long-established know-how.
That tradition is now under pressure from imported panela, which reaches local markets at lower prices and in industrial packaging. Producers say the competition has become harder over the past several years as production costs rise and supermarket shelves fill with foreign alternatives.
The Cost of Keeping Tradition Alive
Rafael Fernández, a raspadura and cane-miel producer, said the biggest expense begins with the cane itself. Growing it requires time, care and fertilizer, and those costs have climbed. He also pointed to higher labor expenses tied to the rising cost of living.
The making of raspadura is slow and labor-intensive. Once the juice is extracted, it must be cooked for at least six hours before it reaches the right point for molding. Even so, Fernández said the product remains in demand. He sells by the pound to preserve profit margins and said the retail price can rise significantly after resale.
In supermarkets, imported panela is sold for less than $1.80, while Fernández said his product is priced at around $1.25 before resale. He said that gap has affected his business for about seven years and could eventually push local product out of the market.
Why Producers Are Worried
Panela and raspadura are more than sweeteners in Panama. They are part of rural identity, tied to family production, local names and regional habits. In Azuero, the juice is often called guarapo; in parts of Coclé, it is known as caldo. The finished product is valued not only for taste, but also for durability, since a raspadura can be stored for long periods without spoiling.
Import pressure is strongest from Colombia and Costa Rica in the broader category of sugars and confectionery products. Early 2025 figures from the Panamanian Food Agency showed 72.5 million kilograms of food imports overall, underscoring the size of the imported food market that local producers must compete against.
Legislative Response
In October 2025, independent lawmaker Jonathan Vega introduced bill 484 before the Assembly’s Agro-Industrial Affairs Commission. The proposal seeks to update Law 69 of 2001, which regulates Panama’s panela sector, and strengthen protections for local producers.
The measure aims to preserve what Vega describes as part of the country’s agro-food heritage while also requiring stronger sanitary registration and clearer rules for production. He said the goal is to protect the sector and maintain the tradition of Panamanian raspadura.
The proposal has not advanced beyond second debate since February. For now, the country’s traditional cane-processing communities continue to work under the same fires, molds and rhythms that have defined the craft for generations.
What This Means
The dispute over raspadura reflects a broader tension in Panama between artisanal food production and cheaper imported goods. For rural producers, the issue is not only price, but survival: keeping a traditional product competitive in a market shaped by scale, packaging and lower costs abroad.
As imports expand and production costs rise, the future of Panama’s panela sector may depend on whether lawmakers choose to give local producers stronger legal protection. Until then, the country’s traditional trapiches remain a symbol of both cultural continuity and economic vulnerability.