Costa Expands Blueberry Footprint in Laos With Large-Scale Project

According to a report by the Champamai newspaper of Laos, on April 21 the Champasak Provincial Investment Promotion and Management Committee signed a concession agreement with Costa Berry Lao Co. Ltd. for a berry cultivation project.

The project is located in the Paksong district of Champasak province, covering an area of 103.14 hectares. The berries to be cultivated include blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries, which will be both supplied to the Laotian domestic market and exported internationally. It is reported that 33.6 hectares of land were allocated as a planting base on March 31, 2025, and the remaining 69.54 hectares were handed over in January 2026.

As early as March 2025, Costa announced the establishment of a 17-hectare blueberry plantation in Paksong, and by September it had successfully completed the patent registration of five blueberry varieties in Laos.

According to the blueberry cultivation project of Costa Berry Lao Co. Ltd., the company expects to expand by an additional 50 hectares in 2026 on top of the initial 17 hectares, followed by further expansions of 70 hectares in 2027 and 63 hectares in 2028, reaching a total of 200 hectares by 2028.

Paksong, located on the Bolaven Plateau in southern Laos, sits at an elevation of around 1,200 meters and is well known as a major coffee-growing region. One key reason that Costa chose to establish a planting base in Laos is its convenient access to export markets in China and Southeast Asia.

Growing conditions in Laos are similar to those in China’s Yunnan province, with a harvest season that begins approximately three months earlier than Yunnan’s peak. Although Laotian blueberries have not yet gained access to the Chinese market, the country is actively working toward entry into both the Chinese and Indian markets, with progress expected in the near future.

Costa is a leading global blueberry grower and variety developer with more than 30 years of experience in blueberry breeding programs. The company has successfully developed varieties and cultivation systems suited to both temperate and subtropical climates across the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, including technologies such as substrate cultivation. Costa’s blueberry varieties are currently licensed for cultivation across North America, South America, Africa, Asia and Australia.

Image: Pixabay

This article was translated from Chinese. Read the original article.