Colombia: Extraordinary growth of exports in March

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Selling abroad is crucial for nations’ economies, as no one is spared from having to buy, even if production in the national territory is strong. It is a necessary trade relationship that generates a major problem, known as the deficit in the trade balance if it is out of balance.

In March, Colombia’s exports in the third month of 2022 grew at an extraordinary rate. According to the report presented on May 3 by DANE, the variation compared to the same month of the previous year is 46.9%.

During March, the country’s external sales totaled US$4.97 billion, a figure that in the same month of 2021 was US$3.38 billion, and in 2020, US$2.44 billion.

According to DANE data, Colombian exports in the third month of the year continued to be driven by fuels, which is both good and bad.

The good thing is that the oil price is soaring internationally due to the war in Ukraine, which means that Colombia will receive more resources on account of oil income.

The bad thing about this situation is something that analysts have been insisting on, and that is the fact that Colombia depends a lot on fuel exports, while the healthy thing for economies is to boost sectors such as agriculture and livestock, both to supply domestic demand and to sell to other countries.

The DANE export results show that the growth of external fuel sales was 85.1%, which accounted for 54.6% of the total value of exports.

The increase in external sales of the Agricultural, food and beverages branch stands out with 22.1%, and Manufactures, which expanded by 18.6%.

Other non-mining and non-energy exports also had outstanding growth: 4.8%.

CRUDE OIL

In March 2022, according to the Dane report, 17.3 million barrels of crude oil were exported, representing a growth of 10% compared to March 2021.

The 85.1% growth in sales of fuel and extractive industry products implied the sum of COP 2.7 billion (US$675,000), according to the report.

Meanwhile, as far as agricultural exports are concerned, unroasted coffee, decaffeinated or not, coffee husks and hulls (50.4%) continued to be in the first place. Thus, of the US$1.1 billion sold by this sector, US$403 million came from the grain, according to March data.

RICE SALES ABROAD

This week, Colombia announced the agreement between Fedearroz and the Association of Latin Chambers of Commerce in the United States to export rice to that market, which is one of the most important commercial partners for our country after the signing of the Free Trade Agreement.

Until now, it had been common for this nation to import the product that, according to several analysts, has an excellent opportunity to conquer international markets with greater local production and the potential of logistics to export. The favorable conditions of the national climate are given, and the opening of the United States is a giant step to reach other destinations.