The US opens its market to import mangoes from Colombia

(CNN Spanish) - The

United States gave Colombia the green light to import fresh mangoes, a market dominated until now by countries in the region such as Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and Guatemala.

The US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) - an agency of the Department of Agriculture - reported last month that Colombia may begin importing fresh mangoes to the United States "using protective measures. along the production chain "which involves producers, packers and transporters and thus" minimize the risk of introducing harmful plant pests and weeds "to the country.

Colombia already imported frozen or preserved mango into the United States, according to ProColombia, the government agency that promotes Colombian exports, international tourism and foreign investment in the country.

Between 2012 —when the free trade agreement between the two countries came into effect— and 2015, sales grew from US $ 2.5 million to US $ 3.1 million, according to that entity.

The country has been working on the process of authorizing the importation of fresh mangoes to the United States for at least five years, Juliana Villegas, ProColombia's vice president of Exports, told CNN.

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"We have advantages such as being able to produce throughout the year, (having) a large portfolio and a higher level of Brix or sucrose degrees," Villegas said, referring to the quality of Colombian mango.

Brix degrees are a measure used to measure the sweetness of fruits.

Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey buys chopped mango from a vendor in Medellín, Colombia, in 2008. (Credit: RAUL ARBOLEDA / AFP via Getty Images)

Regarding fresh mangoes in the United States, Colombia will have to compete with other mango exporters such as Mexico (61%), Peru (14%), Ecuador and Brazil (8% each) and Haiti (2.7%) and Guatemala (2%).

According to Villegas, Colombia has competitive advantages to export and enter the market for mango importers in that country.

"We have excellent fruit, our conditions, let's say unique agroclimatic conditions. That is why the concentration of sugar is not the same as that of our competitors. So we will take full advantage of that," added Villegas.

And the geostrategic location of Colombia will allow the export of fresh mangoes to both coasts of the United States.

"The fruit needs to arrive quickly and it needs to arrive well. So we are going to comply with that, because there are very, very important rules of the game there," said Villegas, from ProColombia.

With the authorization to import mangoes to the United States, Colombia would already have 106 agricultural products in the market of that country, among them: Hass avocado, peppers, blueberries, cape gooseberries, mandarins, among others, Villegas said.

What kind of mangoes does Colombia offer?

Colombia produces at least five types of mangoes: yulima mango, keitt mango, sugar mango, tommy mango and common mango, according to the National Mango Federation.

These differ in the sugar level and the size of the fruit.

According to Villegas, the mango market to the United States has a lot of variety and consumption has grown notably, one reason why Procfprocololombia sought authorization to bring mangoes to that market.

"We believe that in mango our first exports have to do with one of the varieties most requested by the market, which is tommy mango. We have that variety, but also there I would like to emphasize that we have availability of other varieties," said Villegas.

Although Colombia has mango production in 22 of the 32 departments of the country, the main producers of this fruit are Cundinamarca (center), Tolima (center) and Magdalena (north), which represent 68% of the total area planted in the country, according to 2020 figures from the Colombian Ministry of Agriculture.

And according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fedemango, Colombia produces about 350,000 tons of mango a year.

The price at which the mango will be in the United States is not yet clear, but ProColombia estimates that this fruit could be at a price of between US $ 3 and US $ 11. But we still have to wait for the first shipment to arrive in the United States, according to ProColombia.

A biche mango seller in Medellín, Colombia.

(Credit: RAUL ARBOLEDA / AFP via Getty Images)

Some figures on mangoes in Colombia

• Until the first quarter of 2020, Colombia imported its mangoes mainly to two markets: Canada (43%) and France (30%).

• It has smaller markets to export them: the Netherlands, Spain, Venezuela, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Italy, the United Arab Emirates and Curaçao, according to the Colombian Ministry of Agriculture.

• The United States imported from the world in 2020 about US $ 493 million worth of mangoes, equivalent to 549,000 tons, according to figures from the US Department of Agriculture.

Fruits