Chile’s Agricultural and Livestock Service of Chile (SAG) approved the import of Colombian beef in April 2016, and since then the certification and validation process has been underway. And now with all the technical, health, sanitation, and other standards formalized, approved beef producers will have access to the new market.

Thus far, according to the Ministry of Commerce, the approved companies include: Frigocolanta, Manzanares, Cárnica Roja S.A.S. and Planta Ecológica de Beneficio Animal Río Frío S.A.

The Colombian government is celebrating the announcement as another step forward in its push to increase beef exports. “Chile imports more than $800 million USD of meat from the world per year,” said María Claudia Lacouture, Colombia’s minister of commerce, industry, and tourism. “We have a new opportunity to take advantage of this market.”

Lacouture noted that beef is a product that her agency is promoting as a means to increase Colombia’s exports. It has been officially identified as a National Strategic Interest Project (PINE), and Chile is now one of 16 markets that have been cleared to import Colombian beef.

She believes that the opening of this market will help the nation hit its target goal of $444.5 million USD of beef exports in 2018 — a lofty goal given that the total only reached $34.2 million USD in 2016, according to the ministry. “It is a further step in our market diversification policy and an increase in Colombia’s exportable supply,” said Lacouture.