This is a growing market and several countries, especially Colombia, Paraguay, Venezuela and Brazil are increasing their capacity to produce and use cassava starch. Leaves are high in protein, and supplement diets as a vegetable in Northeast Brazil. Farmers commonly dry leaves and use them on-farm in animal feeding. International trade has been restrained by high competition from Asia, where production and processing costs are lower, and there is an efficient marketing infrastructure. Fresh root export to developed countries is a small but growing market.
Little cassava is traded internationally to or from the Americas.
Curiously, most of the current trade is based on export of fresh roots from Costa Rica, overall a minor cassava producer in the region. The market for fresh cassava in North America has grown steadily parallel with rapid increase in populations of Latin American origin. Costa Rica exported 45,000 tons in 1995, nearly triple the volume of 1990. Constraints and Opportunities for System Improvement Cassava has attained its current level of production and utilization as a consequence of many forces that ultimately impact farmers' decisions of how much to grow, and the market demand for cassava and its products. Development based on cassava is tied to an array of constraints and opportunities.