Twenty-three ag related businesses and 12 ag associations are in Bogota, Colombia this week as part of USDA trade mission there. It’s the second such mission to that South American nation, the seventh largest importer of US ag goods. Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Alexis Taylor is leading the trip, and says USDA is seeking market diversification, and Latin America is key to that effort.

“And I think Colombia is really a priority as we look for growth opportunities with rising incomes, rising middle classes for much of what the US Food and Agriculture can produce and look to export.“

Speaking to reporters from Bogota, Taylor said the rising household incomes in Colombia mean a rising interest in food diversification, something members on the trade mission were ready to address.

“Dairy, turkey, pork, fish, food products are also all on the trade mission, being represented this week, and then also a company who are focused on consumer packaged goods, but doing some additional nut products and export, looking to export some new nut products to Colombia. So I think there is a lot of opportunity for the diverse agricultural and food products that we produce and just export generally into the into the Colombian market.”

Taylor said there were 267 business-to-business meetings between her delegation and buyers from Colombia and Venezuela on the first day.

“Some of our largest export categories to Colombia today are pork, dairy products, cat and dog foods, and then alcoholic beverages, those wines as well. And so I think, you know, as we think about beef exports, as we think about wine exports, I think there’s a lot of interest. And when what we’ve heard generally, from just the first day of B-to-B meetings, is a lot of really positive reception from the buyers in this market.”

Recently, Colombia stirred concerns about slowing the import of US corn into that country. Taylor said there was a robust discussion about the matter, and she explained how US imported corn does not pose a threat to their domestic production.

“90% of domestic corn production in Colombia going to food, and 95% of the corn imports going to feed. They complement each other, and that is part of what we talked about at the Ministry of Trade and Commerce this week.”

More B-to-B meetings are scheduled in the days ahead.