The mangosteen is known as the queen of fruits and Costa Rica has nearly 18 hectares planted with it. Between 2011 and 2016 Costa Rica didn't make exports of mangosteen, even though global demand for this product continues to grow.
In the opinion of the Foreign Trade Promoter (PROCOMER) it is a product with a good export potential and a bigger potential to market it internally.
The Promoter also identified the dragon fruit, soursop, passion fruit, gooseberry, ipecac, peach-palm, and starfruit as other products with great potential.
According to the report, Commercialization Opportunities for Emerging Agricultural Products, promoting exports of these goods would allow the country to diversify its exportable supply of fresh fruit, as they are well accepted abroad.
In 2016, for example, bananas (45%) and pineapples (40%) accounted for 85% of the country's fresh produce exports.
Marta Esquivel, the director of business intelligence at PROCOMER, said consumers are increasingly more aware of the importance of having a balanced nutrition and are incorporating more fresh and organic products into their food, which represents an opportunity to export agricultural products such as the ones analyzed in the study.
"These products have excellent nutritional and medicinal properties, which benefit the health of the people that consume them. Mangosteen, for example, has antioxidant, antitumor, antiallergic, antibacterial, and antiviral properties," she said.
Another reason to boost exports of these products is that there is little international competition and an increased demand for them worldwide.
According to the report, in Central America, only Nicaragua and Honduras had significant exports of passion fruit between 2011 and 2015; El Salvador was their main target market.
Costa Rica has 320 hectares of passion fruit, mainly planted in the Huetar Norte and Caribbean regions, but the only significant exports (24 tons) were recorded in 2012.
"Companies have seen the need to reformulate their products to remove artificial ingredients. The habit of consuming less artificial products is already established in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, it is also fashionable in North America, and it is starting to happen in Latin America," the document states.
Source: elfinancierocr.com