About Blendhub Colombia and Expo IAlimentos   

Blendhub’s presence in Colombia began in 2016 and in 2018 our powdered food production hub was established in Cundinamarca. Our hub in Colombia is dedicated to export and serve our clients throughout Latin America. We currently export to Ecuador, Chile and Argentina and have the potential to export to Brazil, as both countries have an open trade agreement for most food products.

This year was Blendhub’s second year of participation in Expo IAlimentos which took place in Bogotá, Colombia, on September 5 and 6 of 2019. The exhibition was organized by IAlimentos Magazine, and brought together nearly 100 producers and suppliers specialized in food and beverages.

At the exhibition, the General Director of Blendhub Colombia, Harvey Eduardo Castañeda, gave a talk on how to produce powdered food without CAPEX.

Food Industry Trends in Colombia

At Expo IAlimentos, our Latin American team interacted with professionals from the food and beverage industry and was able to share an accurate view of consumer trends and market challenges in Colombia. In this blog post, we will discuss the key points of the event.

Processed Dairy Cheese

As Harvey explained, Blendhub Colombia is seeing a greater demand in the processed cheese sector. In 2018, the size of the Colombian dairy sector was COL$ 1,153.8 billion (US$390.3 million) and it is estimated that the CAGR will grow by 4.8% from 2018 to 2023.

According to Global Data, low food price inflation has resulted in an increase in net trade for Colombian consumers, who are beginning to opt for higher quality products in the dairy sector. Increased demand creates opportunities to experiment with innovative flavours and ingredients, as well as formats. In both Colombia and Latin America, there is also a growing demand for convenient cheese products – ones with a long shelf life and in small portions.

However, producers find it difficult to access adequate infrastructure for milk production, storage, processing and marketing. The lack of infrastructure compromises the quality and competition of domestic versus imported dairy products. From Blendhub we have alternatives to meet these new needs, powdered ingredients, and more efficient and economical forms of processing with more competitive formulas.

Dairy Cheese Alternatives

Despite the growing demand for processed cheese, milk is losing its share throughout Latin America and the plant-based food industry is growing even faster.

This can be attributed to lifestyle changes and a growing preference for plant-based alternatives; therefore, Colombia is also seeing a growing demand for plant-based cheeses.

Needless to say, a common challenge for food producers is to develop recipes that use vegetable ingredients without compromising taste, texture or price for the end consumer. At Blendhub we are world and regional leaders with a portfolio developed in vegan products (almonds, oats, coconuts, etc.) in different applications (beverages, yogurts, cheeses, etc.).

Supplements and Personalized Nutrition

The vitamins, minerals and supplements sector has traditionally been one of the fastest-growing industries in the world; however, in recent years growth has slowed the maturity of the industry. In Europe and the USA, the market is saturated as there are many dietary supplement products adapted to demographic characteristics, such as gender or age.

However, the same is not true for emerging markets such as Colombia, where there is still strong demand and room for growth.

We are seeing that the greatest opportunities lie in a greater degree of personalized nutrition and products aimed at a population with specific health needs or risk factors. For example, personalized nutrition for people with obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, a history of smoking, and so on.

Common barriers for producers include the high costs of genetic testing, the relative lack of credibility of personalized nutrition by the general public and, in particular, production technology. To avoid these challenges, considerable investment is needed in both research and development and in equipment and technology.