The Dominican Republic's avocado production meets all the quality standards required by the countries to which the product is exported.
Research and profitability have allowed the avocado from the Dominican Republic to achieve a good position in very demanding markets, such as Europe and the United States.
Each year the agroindustrial group Macapi produces and plants about 300,000 avocado seeds. Macapi is a company that has provided support to the national agricultural sector since the early 1990s, dedicating itself to the production and marketing of Hass avocados and the famous guacamole pasta," stated Manuel Castillo, who is in charge of the marketing and sales department of the Macapi group.
Castillo said that in 2018 Macapi exported and placed around 500 vans of avocados, equivalent to US $15 or US $ 20 million, directly in supermarkets in the United States, without any health problems, as they comply with all international regulations.
During the 2014-2017 period, the Dominican Republic's avocado exports amounted to nearly US $121.4 million.
"There is a body created by the American State that charges 60 cents for each box of Hass avocado that enters the US. Each box that comes in from Mexico, Chile, or the Dominican Republic pays that amount," he said.
In that sense, Castillo said, the United States made around US $80 million in 2018 and part of that money is invested in the promotion of the product in different spaces, such as the Super Bowl, to maintain and continue increasing consumption.
Top 6
According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture, during the 2014-2017 period, the country received about US $ 121.4 million for the export of avocados to more than 34 countries under the seal of the Dominican Republic.
The United States plays a predominant role, as it is the main destination market for this fruit. The United States avocado purchases in the reference period amounted to US $67.8 million, i.e. 55.4% of the total national exports of the product during said period.
Puerto Rico is the second biggest destination market with exports of US $ 13.9 million. In 2017, exports to this destination peaked at US $ 5.1 million.
The Netherlands ranks third, even though there were no exports to this destination in 2017. During the three previous years the Netherlands purchased US $ 8.7 million in avocados produced in the Dominican soil.
The United Kingdom, which between 2014 and 2017 made imports of the fruit in the amount of US $ 6.2 million, ranks fourth. It is followed by San Martin, with imports worth US $ 1.9 million, and going from US $ 283,726 in 2014, to US $ 638,917 in 2017, which reflects an absolute growth of US $ 355,191. Spain ranks sixth with US $ 1.2 million during the analyzed period.
The Macapi agroindustrial group produces avocado in three farms of its own that are located in San Juan, San Jose de Ocoa (251.52 hectares in Calimete) and in Elias Piña, where they have sown nearly 6,288 hectares
He said that his productions complied with GLOBALgap, Haccp, Fresh directions of packaging and export of Hass premium avocados from the farm to the world market.
According to the manager of the marketing and sales department of the Macapi group, they produce the seeds used in planting, which are of the creole and Apollo variety, themselves.
"Right now half of them are of the Apollo variety, and half of the Creole variety, but we are trying to make a transition so that they are all Apollo because they have a better behavior, so this year we will produce about 300 thousand trees, half of which will be with our seeds," says Castillo.
Source: eldinero.com.do