Colombian Hass avocado association Corpohass has held the first ever national roundtable event for the country's exporters, as it seeks to ramp up shipments of the fruit.

The recently held event was attended by the directors of 27 exporting companies who together make up more than 85 per cent of the country’s export volume.

They discussed the continued consolidation of Colombian Hass avocados on the international market.

At the event, CoropHass also presented its Mega País 2025 initiative, a scheme that seeks to lift the association's foreign exchange earnings to US$400m.

Mega País 2025 sets out a number of strategies, including quality improvements; education and training programmes for all actors in the value chain, the implementation of a real time information system providing solid data for the industry, and participation in international promotional programmes.

A commission comprising eight representatives of exporting companies was set up to monitor progress on these strategies.

In August, Colombian avocado exports rose by 47 percent year-on-year to 65,783 metric tons (MT), growing to $150 million. The fruit is currently shipped to 30 international destinations.