Many Colombian products have a great export potential, but avocados stood out this year and are promising great things for the country's agricultural sector.
According to ProColombia, avocado exports have increased by 266,3% so far this year, from US$ 7.3 million in 2015 to US$ 27.1 million up until October 2016. These figures make it the country's second most exported fruit, only after bananas.
The evolution of avocado exports has been very important. According to John David Mondragon, CEO of CorpoHass, "we only exported 3 containers when we started to export in 2009. In 2016, we expect to export some 900 containers, i.e. some US$ 32.5 million."
The main destinations are the Netherlands (US$ 11.5 million), United Kingdom (US$ 6.7 million), and Spain (US$ 5.8 million).
To explain this increase, Felipe Jaramillo, President of ProColombia said that "European consumers were looking for healthy and ready to eat products, like the avocado."
In turn, Mondragon said that "the avocado has had an excellent productivity in many of our regions; we've had internationally experienced professionals working with us; the devaluation of the dollar has been highly motivating, and many of our farmers have become exporters."
Additionally, the plans to improve the production have had a positive impact. According to Alejandro Estevez, President of the board of directors of the SAC, "the prioritization of new products that was made more than 6 years ago has begun to bear fruit."
Future potential
According to estimates, the avocado will continue its growing trend. "Without a doubt, our production can grow from the 12,800 hectares we currently have to some 25,000 hectares in 2020."
For this to happen, gaining access to the US market will be key. In this sense, Estevez said that "the admissibility of our avocado is in consultation until December 27, and, if consultations are favorable, they would proceed to give access to our product," he said.
Source: portafolio.co