Colombian avocado will reach the markets of South Korea

Cartama was the first Colombian company to ship Hass avocado to China and Japan. In the coming days, the first 1.6 tons of this fruit, planted in Guática, Risaralda, will be exported by air to South Korea.

According to Ricardo Uribe, general manager of Cartama, in more than a year they have managed to have their cultivation free of quarantine pests, to meet South Korea's sanitary standards, which are quite strict. Health diplomacy was carried out thanks to cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Commerce, ICA, Corpohass and ProColombia.

The Colombian avocado will reach the markets of South Korea thanks to the help of Mission Produce, the US company focused on the distribution of the fruit and which controls 75 % of the distribution of the fruit. Uribe added that he also plans to reach Chile and Indonesia, the largest consumers of avocado.

In this way, they seek to reduce dependence on sales to Europe, and position themselves in the Chilean and Indonesian markets as a reliable source.

Flavia Santoro, president of ProColombia, commented that health diplomacy will continue to open up new opportunities for the fruit to continue growing at double digits in the coming years.

According to data from Dane, with analysis from ProColombia, avocado exports in the first quarter of 2021 almost doubled.

Between January and March 2021, the fruit was sold for $ 64.2 million, compared to $ 33.6 million in the same period of 2020, which represented a jump of 91.1%.

The main buyers in the first quarter of 2021 were the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Russia and Argentina. It is worth mentioning that the country already has 26 destinations where the Colombian Hass avocado has phytosanitary access.

The leading departments in foreign sales were Antioquia, Valle del Cauca, Caldas, Risaralda, Cundinamarca and Quindío.