As the Colombian pineapple industry continues to expand, www.freshfruitportal.com caught up with the team at Bengala Agrícola during Fruit Logistica in Berlin to discuss what the country's Cauca Valley had to offer for production of the tropical fruit, and competition with market leader Costa Rica.

Marketing and sales manager Mauricio Lopez said Bengala Agrícola had undergone three stages since it began in March 2012, reaching 430 hectares of pineapples in total in the Cauca Valley.

Bengala Agrícola's Julian Andres Rojas and Mauricio Lopez

He said the project had made his group the market leader in Colombia with 19,000 metric tons (MT) sold in the domestic market, boosted by a productivity of 130MT per hectare

"We are more productive than Costa Rica when we speak of yield in the field," Lopez said, attributing the higher rates to the local climate.

When asked about pesticide use in comparison to Costa Rica, Lopez emphasized a lack of humidity led worked in the Cauca Valley's favor.

"Colombia has a lot of advantages: its weather, conditions and soils allow us to produce clean fruit. We don't need to use many pesticides as it doesn't rain much," he said.

"Costa Rica has more rain, more humidity and greater risk of the spread of diseases, so you have to apply more agri-chemicals."

While Lopez recognized Colombia's disadvantages compared to Costa Rica in terms of distance, he said this gave impetus to being more selective with markets.

"Bengala Agrícola directs toward markets that are less saturated, are premium or with a higher purchasing power," he said.

Chile, the Caribbean and Europe have so far been the main markets for the company, but this year the plan is to make headway in the United States.

"Starting in June we want to include the United States in our commercial plan. This year the United States will mean 200 containers for the company to sell," he said.

"Europe is around 350 containers and South America (Chile, Argentina and Uruguay) add up to around 140."

"This year the goal is between 650-700 containers. We will close the year with around 1,000 hectares, and for next year there will be a production volume of 24,000MT and 1,300 hectares for 2017, and 1,100 containers for that year."

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