Honduran melons are targeting new export markets this year, according to the general director of the country’s plant health service, Senasa.
Ricardo Paz said that 2019 heralded a more dynamic period for Honduran agriculture, and especially for melon growers who could access a number of new markets.
Having embarked on its first exports to Mexico in May 2018, Honduras is now focusing its efforts on opening new markets including South Korea and Chile.
“We are in the final stages of negotiations with Chile, and could soon secure access to another 40 markets worldwide, as we have done in Mexico,” he told Hondudiario.
According to a report from the Ministry of Agriculture, Honduran melons, which are grown mainly in the south of the country, are currently exported to 47 countries on three continents.
For many years, the US was Honduras’ sole export market but the recent diversification into new varieties has led to an increase in supply and fuelled expansion into new markets.
Figures from the Central Bank of Honduras show that in 2017, the country exported US$71.4m of melons, an increase of 34 per cent on the previous year.
