Exports in Colombia grew for the first time since January 2020

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Exports in Colombia showed positive numbers for the first time in 13 months. Last February became the first monthly period in which the percentage of products leaving the country was higher than that recorded since January 2020.

According to a report presented by the National Department of Statistics (DANE), the country’s foreign sales reached US$2.9 billion in February of this year, which meant a growth of 0.04% compared to the same month of 2020. According to the entity, this result was mainly explained by the 14.4% growth in the manufacturing group’s external sales.

In the reported month, exports of fuels and products of extractive industries participated with 44.7% of the total value of exports; likewise, manufacturers with 22.2%, agricultural, food, and beverages, 25.0%, and other sectors 8.1%.

Another important result is that in the second month of the year, 11.1 million crude oil barrels were exported, which represented a drop of 39.2% compared to February 2020.

Regarding exports of the manufacturing group, they were US$653.7 million and presented a variation of 14.4%, compared to February 2020, this sector recorded the best performance for February in the last 6 years.

This increase was mainly explained by the growth in external sales of chemical products (23.8%), which contributed 9.8 percentage points to the groups’ result.

On the other hand, external sales of agricultural products, food, and beverages had a value of US$736.6 million and presented a growth of 8.0%, compared to February 2020. The trend was mainly explained by the increase in exports of unroasted coffee, decaffeinated or not; coffee husks and hulls (24.5%), which contributed 7.5 percentage points to the group’s result.

The most relevant data in February 2021 compared to February 2020 was the one registered in the growth of exports of the Other sectors group (32.5%). This was mainly explained by the increase in sales of non-monetary gold added 32.8 percentage points to the group’s variation.

Exports of fuels and products of extractive industries were US$1.3 billion and presented a drop of 12.9% compared to February 2020, this behavior was mainly explained by the reduction in sales of Petroleum, petroleum products, and related products (-20.3%), which contributed 13.7 negative percentage points to the variation of the group.

As for countries that received the most products or services exported from Colombia, the United States was the main destination with a share of 31.2%. It was followed by China (10.0%), Brazil (5.8%), India (4.4%), Ecuador (4.3%), the Netherlands (4.0%), and Peru (3.0%).

In the January-February 2021 period, Colombian exports totaled US$5.5 billion and registered a 12.7% decrease, compared to the same period in 2020.

Source: Infobae