After months of being unable to ship poultry and eggs to Columbia, the United States has again been given clearance to export to the South American country.
“It’s a $110 million market for us, so it’s a huge market, and very important as far as trade is concerned when it comes to our free trade agreement that we’ve got with the Colombians,” said Greg Tyler, president of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council (USAPEEC).
The Colombian market had been closed to the U.S. since August, with Colombia’s Institute for Agriculture and Livestock (ICA) citing highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) as its reason for halting U.S. poultry imports. However, Tyler said for a few months, U.S. exporters with the needed permits were able to continue to send poultry products to Columbia until about November, when the country cut off U.S. poultry trade entirely.
A press release from ICA stated that Colombia has been declared free of HPAI by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), and the pre-existing trade restrictions were put in place to protect the country’s poultry industry. However, in February, an agreement was reached between animal health authorities from both countries, that would change the requirements for the importation of day-old birds, fertile eggs, egg products, fresh or frozen poultry meat and processed poultry products while still protecting Colombia’s HPAI-free status.
The permitting process has begun, Tyler said, which he believes will help U.S. poultry exports rebound in 2024.
“Obviously, the disruption really hurt our exports to that market and was probably one of the reasons why our (overall) exports dipped from 2022 to 2023,” Tyler said.
“We’re grateful Colombia is back open to us. We’ve had a good relationship with our Colombian counterparts, and we’re just glad we’ve got access again to that important market.”
View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation.
