Colombian exports of organic fresh and dried tropical fruits to the European Union grew 31 per cent in 2019, according to a new report from European Commission.
The increase means Colombia ranked as the eighth supplier of organic agri-food products last year, up from 13th place in 2018.
The report, EU Imports of Organic Agri-Food Products, shows that Colombia’s organic agri-food export volume rose from 63,114 tonnes in 2018 to 87,341 tonnes in 2019, an increase of 38 per cent.
Within this, exports of tropical fresh and dried fruits increased from 19,000 tonnes to 24,900 tonnes.
The top 10 countries exporting organic agri-food products to the EU are: China, Ukraine, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, Turkey, India, Colombia, Kazakhstan, and Brazil.
With around 40m hectares of cultivatable land (of which 8m are currently under production) and a tropical climate enabling year-round production in many crops, Colombia has the potential to become a leading global supplier of food.
At present, agriculture accounts for 9.5 per cent of the country’s GDP. In 2019, exports of agri-food products totalled US$7.296bn, with coffee, fresh flowers, bananas, cocoa derivatives and tropical fruit among the main products within the category.
