COLOMBIAN AVOCADO GAINING GROUND AMONG EU CONSUMERS

06/05/2010
While in 2009 24 tons of avocados exported to that destination, the number is 64 tons so far during the current year
Last year there were 21 700 hectares which produced 225 375 tonnes of the fruit this year is expected to produce 226 400 tonnes.
Bogota, May 6, 2010. Colombian agro entrepreneurs continue giving good news for the country's economy, thanks to increasingly open up new export markets for various products with the support of organizations like the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA).
This time shift corresponds Hass, fruit recognized by experts as one of the most exotic, nutritious and tasty produced in Colombia, which now jumps the bandeja paisa, among other dishes to the dining- European Union.
And although previously there had been some product exports to that block by brokers dedicated international food trade, in this case involves a farmer who, after the respective contacts with the accompaniment of ICA, managed to realize their first sale directly.
Indeed, Luis Becerra, an entrepreneur who has agro cultivation in the department of Huila, this week sent a container with 20 tons of Hass avocados that left Corabastos wineries in Bogota to Santa Marta port, thence to depart board a vessel bound for Maersk Rotterdam (Netherlands), where he arrived after a voyage of 14 days with final destination market of France, a country that ranks as the second largest consumer of the fruit worldwide after the United States.
The businessman who managed to take this important step and is growing in La Station, located between the towns of Gigante and Garzon, reported that this first order is 5,000 boxes worth 22,500 euros and was acquired by the company Elqui Import Fruits.
Becerra said that by the middle of this year, plans to send another request but this time from 40 tons to the idea is to increase the number hereafter, but to achieve said required the union of several producers, a task that is today.
According to the employer, one of the main attractions that sell the product in foreign markets has to do with price, since this season is paying off very well.
Becerra is confident that, in conjunction with the ICA, the agro-business and in particular avocado producers are making "a good job with that product and we are going to be a power and a big competitor in the global market since we have an excellent quality. Now we must fight so that we can also export to other major markets such as Canada and the United States. "
In this regard, the CEO of ICA, Luis Fernando Caicedo Lince, said the agency is working hard within the parameters established by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Desarrollo (MARD), in order to sign the corresponding phytosanitary protocols and those needed for agribusiness continue on the path of growth.
"In the case of the avocado, we have several open negotiation process with partners in Colombia and we hope that this work of opening new markets successfully completed," said the manager.