September 12, 2013

Despite being one of Colombia's leading meat suppliers for many years, the volume of US trade with Colombia was significantly restrained by high duties and other trade barriers.

The US-Colombia Trade Agreement, which was enforced in May 2012, has made this market much more accessible and allowed the US industry to capitalise on Colombia's growing economy and rapidly increasing demand for higher-quality proteins.   

Dan Halstrom, US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) senior vice president for marketing and communications, explains that the business climate is particularly attractive for US pork exporters serving Colombia's meat processing sector. He adds, however, that retail chains such as Grupo Éxito are also featuring a wider range of fresh US pork cuts in the meat case.

As a result, Colombia has emerged as this year's leading destination for US pork in the Central/South America region. Through July, US pork exports to Colombia more than doubled in volume (16,982 tonnes, +105%) and increased 87% in value (to US$43 million) over last year's pace.

Despite being a small beef market, US beef exports are growing rapidly as well in Colombia, especially in the retail sector through leading supermarket chains such as Carrefour and Grupo Éxito. US beef exports to Columbia through July were up 424% in volume (1,435 tonnes) from a year ago and climbed 391% in value (US$4.4 million).

Colombia holds great potential for further growth as nearly all duties on US pork are to be phased out completely by 2016 and beef duties by 2021, Halstrom added.