The sixth version of Territorio Aguacate, an event that represents a reference point for the global Hass avocado business, began on Wednesday, November 27, in Medellin, Colombia, with more than 3,500 attendees.

The event brought together members of the local and international industry to discuss the different aspects of the business and the possibilities for growth in the region, in order to project the Colombian and Latin American sectors globally.

Katheryn Mejia Vergel, executive director of Corpohass, was in charge of kicking off the congress and highlighted the relevance of this event to learn, share, strengthen relationships, and generate business around this “beautiful sector on which nearly 240,000 Colombians depend today”.

The executive director said that economic sustainability is a priority for Corpohass, as it is a fundamental pillar for the business's profitability.

She also highlighted the potential that exists in Colombia to grow in agricultural production, citing an FAO study that shows that 50% of the country is still not used for food production, “and for avocados in particular, Colombia has a potential of 3.2 million hectares available for planting Hass avocados,” she said.

According to the latest figures from Colombia's Ministry of Agriculture, the country currently has 55.00o hectares planted, showing enormous potential yet to be discovered, according to Mejía.

Avocado is already Colombia's third most exported fruit, contributing more than US$200 million to the country's GDP last year.

Along those lines, Agustín Zimmermann, FAO representative, showed figures indicating that between 2010 and 2022, Hass avocado production in Colombia grew by 431%, while the harvested area grew by 410% during the same period and exports by 66% between 2010 and 2024.

Zimmermann highlighted the avocado industry's ability to transform agri-food systems by becoming more efficient, more sustainable, and resilient.

He also added that Colombia can respond to the demands of international markets, and has the opportunity to capture new markets.

“At FAO we see that Colombia has enormous potential for growth in agriculture in general and the avocado chain is one of the sectors that is spearheading that,” said Zimmermann.

More importantly, the country can increase its agricultural production without affecting its native forests.

Avocado export projections

As of September this year, Colombia had already exported 102,000 tons of avocados with a value of US$218 million and, according to Mejía, “the goal we have for this year is to close with 147,000 tons exported and from what we see we believe we could even exceed that figure”.

Thinking about 2025, the executive director said that they are projecting an export volume of 177,000 tons, which would show a growth of close to 15%.

Colombian avocados are already in more than 30 countries, with the European Union as the main market, concentrating around 85% of all exports.

However, Mejía assured that the industry's big bet is the United States, which they hope “will become our main market,” he said.

Today, the United States is the second largest export market for Colombian avocados, behind the European Union, with an 11% share. Mejía said that they project that number to increase to 20% next season.

In Europe, Colombia is already the second largest supplier of avocados in volume, surpassed only by Peru, which shows a preference for the fruit.

However, the big challenge lies in the quality of Colombian fruit, since according to Walmart's Sourcing Director, Mauricio Bustamante, they often hear complaints during the Colombian fruit period about the taste of the early fruit, the quality and ripening of the later fruit during the season.

In this regard, the experts on the panel: “Perception of Latin American fruit in the U.S. and European markets”, held during Territorio Aguacate, agreed that Colombian fruit has improved a lot and that consumer perception in both markets has improved as well.