Kim Ionta, Business Development Manager, Ocean Spray ITG is just back from a trade mission in Colombia organized by the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service.

 
Colombia is the United States' third-largest export market in Latin and South America, behind Mexico and Brazil. The event was designed to bring together ingredient suppliers and finished food product manufacturers from the US, Colombia and Panama to nurture mutually beneficial business relations. The US Congress passed free trade agreements with Colombia and Panama in October this year, removing trade barriers and bringing an end to the 15-20 percent duty on US cranberry exports. The trade pacts will eventually eliminate all tariffs, marking an enormous opportunity for international trade.

Ocean Spray shines in Bogotá
Kim was invited to represent Ocean Spray at the four-day event in Bogotá, where food specialists from 20 US companies met local distributors, retailers and end product manufacturers in a series of one-on-one consultations, letting potential partnerships blossom. Kim and other participants were introduced to the characteristic features of the Colombian food market, local eating habits and legal requirements for export trade.

Snack-you-like
Kim discovered that Colombians are avid consumers of cookies and biscuits, with the phenomenal demand meaning that Colombian biscuit manufacturers have an astonishing 92 percent market share in Latin America¹. And the sales value of packaged snack bars has seen a tremendous increase of 165 percent between 2005 and 2010², offering plenty of room for NPD to local manufacturers.

According to a recent Mintel report, several new products containing cranberries have been launched in Colombia over the past few years³. Applications range from yoghurts and cheeses to cakes, trail mixes and beverages. Overall, local consumers show a good awareness of cranberry and are increasingly familiar with the Ocean Spray brand. 

1 Euromonitor- October 2011- Columbia report
2 Euromonitor- October 2011 - Columbia report
3 Mintel GNPD report - November 2011