Colombia posted a record in Hass avocado exports in 2025, amid an exceptional context of overseas sales of agricultural products, with volumes not seen since 1991.
Driven by a combination of public policies aimed at trade diversification, the strengthening of production chains, and growing international demand for high-value-added foods, agricultural exports reached levels unseen for more than three decades.
The dynamism of the countryside was such that categories traditionally associated with strong export performance — such as coffee, flowers, and palm oil — were joined by emerging products, including Hass avocado, which consolidated its presence in demanding markets and positioned itself as one of the pillars of the country’s export growth.
What set this year apart was not simply percentage growth, but the magnitude of the leap compared with previous decades and the way different segments of Colombian agriculture came together to respond to rising global demand.
Driven by product quality, expanded logistics networks, and trade agreements that facilitated access to new destinations, Colombian farmers found in 2025 a favorable scenario to consolidate the country as a relevant player in international markets for fresh and processed products.
Hass avocado exports soar in a breakout 2025 for Colombian agriculture
Colombian Hass avocado closed 2025 with figures that exceeded all prior expectations, becoming one of the country’s most dynamic agricultural products in terms of exports.
That year, Colombia exported more than 201,000 tons of Hass avocado, representing an increase of nearly 46% in volume compared with the previous year and generating revenues of more than US$375 million. This performance reflects not only quantitative growth, but also a qualitative consolidation of the product in the world’s leading markets.
The growing presence of Colombian avocado abroad is due to multiple factors. First, diversification of destinations has been key: The Netherlands remained the main market, absorbing more than 38% of exported volume, followed by the United States, where imports from Colombia grew by nearly 94%.
Other markets such as Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, and China also showed significant increases in purchases, pointing to a more robust internationalization strategy than in previous years.
Domestically, regions such as Antioquia — which accounted for nearly half of total shipments — Risaralda, Valle del Cauca, and Caldas strengthened their productive and logistics capacities to meet this growing demand.
This has translated into more efficient production linkages, better agricultural practices, and access to export services that were previously inaccessible to many small- and medium-sized producers.
🥑📈 ¡El aguacate hass colombiano sigue rompiéndola en el mundo!
En 2025, las exportaciones aumentaron 45,7% en volumen frente a 2024. Un resultado que se da en el marco del Gobierno el Cambio del presidente @petrogustavo y del trabajo de @MincomercioCo con la ministra… pic.twitter.com/fZAqMLujv6
— MinComercio Colombia (@MincomercioCo) February 6, 2026
A countryside that drives the Colombian economy
The growth in avocado exports took place within a broader context of expansion in Colombia’s agricultural sector. In January 2025, exports of agricultural and agro-industrial products grew by more than 42% in value, reaching figures not recorded since 1991 for that month, according to official data.
This performance was not an isolated exception, but part of a sustained trend: Between January and April, the sector exported more than 2.1 million tons, with an increase of nearly 12% in volume and close to 40% in value compared with the same period the previous year.
The contribution of the countryside to the country’s total exports thus consolidated as a key engine of economic growth. In the first months of 2025, agricultural products accounted for nearly one-third of total national exports, highlighting a reconfiguration of Colombia’s export profile that has been reducing the traditional dependence on fuels and minerals and betting on food and agricultural goods.
This momentum has been felt both in rural areas and in cities. Greater trade openness and agreements negotiated with various regions of the world have facilitated access for Colombian products to high-purchasing-power markets, resulting not only in increased sales but also in growth across the value chain behind each exported commodity.
Coffee, for example, has played a leading role within agricultural growth, complementing products such as avocado and other fresh foods that respond to global healthy-consumption trends.
Although 2025 will be remembered as a historic year for Colombian agricultural exports, the challenges ahead remain significant. Market consolidation demands not only maintaining product quality, but also improving logistics infrastructure, encouraging the formalization of small producers, and advancing environmental and social sustainability.
In this sense, international competition — especially in segments such as avocado, where countries like Mexico maintain a dominant global position — requires a coordinated strategy that combines technological innovation, access to financing, and stable public policies.
Toward a change in the economic model?
Under President Gustavo Petro’s administration, Colombia is undergoing a phase of structural transition in its economic and trade model, aimed at reducing the historic dependence on the extractive economy — centered on oil, coal, and minerals — and promoting the agricultural sector and higher value-added activities as engines of growth.
The government has promoted a strategy to diversify the export basket, in which agribusiness and nonmining, nonenergy products have seen significant growth, boosting exports and strengthening economic resilience to external shocks.
According to official figures, sales of nonmining, nonenergy goods grew by more than 20% in 2025, with agricultural products, manufactured goods, and other higher-value-added items playing leading roles.
One of the main benefits of this shift toward Colombia Hass avocado exports is economic diversification. Colombian agriculture has shown solid performance, with significant effective increases in exports of coffee, flowers, avocados, and other products, consolidating itself as a dynamic sector capable of generating employment and energizing historically lagging rural regions.
This not only strengthens food sovereignty but also aligns the country with sustainability and decarbonization goals that have been internationally recognized in forums such as the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Moreover, the push for an economy less dependent on fossil fuels responds to a global need arising from concrete actions to counter climate change and seeks to prepare the country for a global economy in which demand for hydrocarbons could decline.
Nevertheless, the transition faces significant criticism. Associations in the extractive sector argue that policies have generated uncertainty and declines in production, with negative impacts on investment and employment in an economy that remains highly dependent — especially in certain geographic areas — on hydrocarbon royalties.
Likewise, organizations such as WTO have warned that, despite announcements of change, Colombia’s export structure still carries a heavy weight of mining-energy goods, which, for some, calls into question the depth of the transformation, also dependent on a lack of political consensus that could reverse the trend if there is a political change at the helm of the country.