Colombia: Land of flowers
Colombia with their 1.141.748 Km2 has the same size as France, Spain and Portugal combined, the 48 million habitants have strong connections in the agri&horti culture business. Staff and worker are well educated and are very motivated, many of them have studied in the U.S.A. and came back to Colombia.
The agri&horti culture is good for 10.8% of the national income, the most important product are coffee, sugar, banana’s, cotton and meat. Flowers are upcoming with a total value in sales of 1.3 billion dollar, coming very close to Colombias number one export product coffee (1.9 billion USD). The total amount of m2 planted with flowers and exotics is around 7500 Ha, Roses is as always the number one product followed by Carnations, Chrysanthemum and Asltroemeria.
The main exportmarkets are U.S.A. with 78%, followed by Russia 5% and the U.K. with 4%. The we see a follow up with Japan, Spain and the Netherland with all 2%. The most important productionareas are near the capital Bogota and also in Antioquia. The flowersector and suppliers of GSI are working strong to grow more and more fairtrade with the wellknown hallmark of FLOVERDE.
