Colombia's stock is rising as a source of perishable products, according to Maersk Line's Latin America president Lars Oestergaard Nielsen.
In an exclusive interview with Fruitnet, Nielsen highlights Colombia as a particularly strong growth market for fresh products in the region, pointing out that Maersk Line has invested in direct services to Northern Europe and the Mediterranean to meet increasing market demand.
'At the moment, we have a specialised service that starts and ends in Colombia with direct connections to Northern Europe with really competitive transit times,' he explains. 'In the case of the Mediterranean, we have a new direct service, launched earlier this year, that connects Colombia, Moin in Costa Rica, and Panama directly to Spain and Italy.'
At the close of the first quarter of 2018, containerised foreign trade in Colombia had grown 3.2 per cent, according to Maersk Line data, boosted by a solid performance in exports of 10.2 per cent.
'The upward trend of the last two years in the Colombian agri-industry is still going strong,' Nielsen outlines. 'Colombian fresh produce exporters continued to explore new markets and banana, avocado and pineapple exports increased by 14 per cent, 80.3 per cent and 67.8 per cent respectively, compared with the same period of 2017.'
Join the discussion on the growth of Colombia's fresh produce industry at Fruitnet Forum Colombia, the brand new conference and networking event organised by Fruitnet Media International.
Producers, exporters, marketers and buyers will have the opportunity to shape the future of Colombia exports at the two-day event which takes place in Bogotá on 26-27 June.
The full interview with Lars Oestergaard Nielsen will be published in Fresh Focus Latin America 2019
