Image
After six months of collaboration among the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Fedegan, the Financing Fund for the Agricultural Sector, Finagro and PROCOLOMBIA, the food company from Barranquilla, Pasto Verde, sent its first shipment of export-quality meat to Angola, in south-east Africa.
Mario Soto, the company advisor, affirmed that the shipment was a container of 25 tons of bovine meat from the department of Cordoba sent to a client he met in the international fair Anuga in Germany, October of last year.
" Due to the Government' s help, this deal that we' ve been working on for months came together. It was a difficult process but with PROCOLOMBIA and Finagro' s help we achieved it. Finagro worked to get us the most competitive exchange rate," said the businessman.
He also added: " We hope to obtain lot more success with the trade agenda we are designing to enter Peru' s food market. We see a lot of good opportunities there."
In fact, with PROCOLOMBIA' s help, they are currently holding a market survey and meetings with potential buyers in their trade agenda. Furthermore, they are working to position the brand in the Egyptian market with specific contacts interested in Colombian meat.
According to PROCOLOMBIA president, Maria Claudia Lacouture, one of Colombia' s strengths is the cattle industry, the fourth largest in Latin America (26.9 million head of cattle in 2008) according to Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism data. " Our weather is ideal for meat production in tropical conditions. We stand out as having the highest quality genetics in the world," indicated the official.
Pasto Verde is a company from Barranquilla that exports and sells foods. It was founded in 2012 to be " an engine of development and jobs in Barranquilla, to open new markets for Colombian cattle ranchers with added value products that meet the highest quality standards," underlined Soto.
Besides exporting meat to Africa, other company projects are opening other markets in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. In these countries, Colombian meat is prized because " livestock are raised organically, that guarantees quality and flavor," concluded the entrepreneur.
