Last year (2022) was a difficult year for Colombian exotic fruit exporters with better growing conditions and prices hoped for in 2023. According to Luis Reyes, director of Frutireyes: “Because of the rainy season and cost hikes especially on agro-inputs and logistics, while market prices were low especially in Europe, last year was difficult. We hope it will be better in 2023.”
The exotic fruit producer and exporter Frutireyes, located in Bogota, Colombia, have farms that are situated close to the capital city. They are physalis, passion fruit and avocado growers, and also export other exotics like granadilla, maracuya, tamarillo, yellow pitahaya and limes.
“To be a farmer in Colombia is a challenge, you must be careful taking the best decision about where to grow fruit. It is also important to employ a professional agronomist team who can deal with weather conditions and land features. We have been growers since the beginning, it has opened our mind to new business, and we have been prepared with phytosanitary protocols from local and international requests. I can say that we have been focused on what we know how to do. In this order of ideas our star product is physalis (golden berries), it has been a family business for many decades,” states Reyes.
Their key markets are Europe with service to the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Italy in particular and the United States of America. “We started to export to Europe 30 years ago. The market in the US for golden berries, as it is known in America, started 8 years ago. We are leaders in the US market in terms of volume. Frutireyes has 400 hectares of golden berries and we can grow more if the market demands more fruit. Asia is a potential market for exotics like yellow pitahaya and granadilla. We can adhere to phytosanitary protocols in other countries like Japan to expand our exports,” explains Reyes.
Looking forward to Berlin
“We are enthusiastic to attend Fruit Logistica again after the pandemic. We enjoy meeting current clients and promoting Colombian exotic fruits. Our goal is to let consumers know the benefits of physalis. It is an extraordinary fruit, that is not very widely known. It is rich in Antioxidants, vitamin B- Complex and vitamin A, and it has weight loss properties and is an anti-diabetic agent,” concludes Reyes.
Visit Frutireyes at Fruit Logistica Berlin Hall 23, Stand C-33.
For more information:
Luis Reyes
Frutireyes
Tel: +57 1 5336739
Email: info [email protected]
www.frutireyes.com/eng/
