Representatives from Costa Rica were out in force in Europe this week within the framework of the fourth round of negotiations of the Association Agreement between Central America and the European Union.
Costa Rica’s foreign trade promotional body, Procomer organised the week of events - Semana Costa Rica - in Belgium, France and Luxembourg in association with the office for external trade, Comex and the Costa Rican embassy in Belgium. The aim was to raise awareness of Costa Rica’s products in Europe in general, and specifically for some of those represented, to target the UK market with their produce.
Zacarías Ayub, director of Procomer’s European office, said:“The UK is one of our priorities and there several products that we think are not yet developed in the marketplace where there could be opportunities for Costa Rica. We are already well known for bananas, pineapple and melon but other tropical fruit lines - particularly papaya and rambutan - as well as roots and tubers also have potential.”
Ayub is keen to move away from the concept that yam, cassava and other root and tuber lines are confined to the specialist ethnic minority market. “We see that consumption of potatoes is high and we are looking beyond what we would call the nostalgia market - people buying products they used to get in their home countries,” he said. “We believe it is a question of consumer education, adding value and bringing recipes to the consumer.”
Also on the inward mission this week was John Scholl, managing director of banana producer Bananera Talamanca. His company produces on some 390ha, 230 of which are given over to bananas and the remainder to plantains. “What we are looking to do is position our product in the organic sector,” said Scholl. “We have the necessary certifications and believe this is a real plus for the UK and German markets in particular. We are looking for a more direct route to market as so far we have been working through the multinationals to reach the European market.”
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