Colombia's Top Imports & Exports 2008
Major Colombian Exports are Crude Oil, Coal and Coffee Beans
Oct 13, 2009
Attaining a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) valued at US$240.7 billion, Colombia was the world’s 38th richest country in 2008.
With a population of 45.6 million Colombians who enjoyed an average GDP of $8,800 per person last year, Colombia placed 144th among other nations in terms of GDP per capita.
As the world’s 58th biggest exporting nation, Colombia shipped $38.6 billion worth of exports in 2008. Colombia is known for exports that include oil, coffee, coal, nickel, emeralds, clothing, bananas and cut flowers. Based on 2008 statistics, Colombia’s largest export clients were the United States (32.1%), Venezuela (16.8%) and Chile (4.8%).
According to the CIA World Factbook, Colombia imported $37.6 billion worth of foreign goods last year. Major commodities imported into Colombia include infrastructure-building equipment for industrial and transportation sectors, as well as consumer goods, chemicals, paper products, fuels and electricity. Leading suppliers to Colombia were the United States (30.5%), China (8.5%), Mexico (8.5%), Brazil (6.5%), Venezuela (4.3%) and Germany (4%).
In total, Colombia’s international trade amounted to $76.2 billion or 31.7% in relation to its overall GDP. This compares with roughly 25% for the U.S. and 60% for Canada.
Colombia Trade with the U.S.
Last year, Colombian exports to America rose 38.8% to $13.1 billion. Over that same period, Colombia bought $11.4 billion worth of U.S. imports – an increase of 33.6%.
Therefore, Colombia’s trade surplus with the U.S. was $1.7 billion in 2008.
The lists below present the top 10 exports and imports that American and Colombian enterprises exchanged in 2008. The fastest-growing trade product categories are also listed.
Colombia’s Top Exports to America
Unprocessed petroleum represented almost half of Colombia’s exports to the U.S. last year. In total, the top 10 Colombian exports generated 82.3% of the total value of products shipped from Colombia to America.
- Crude oil … US$5.9 billion, up 66.2% from 2007 (45% of US imports from Colombia)
- Coal and related fuels … $1.7 billion, up 29% (12.7%)
- Green coffee … $804.9 million, up 18.8% (6.1%)
- Fuel oil … $628.7 million, up 76% (4.8%)
- Nursery stock, cut flowers and Christmas trees … $515.6 million, down 0.7% (3.9%)
- Non-monetary gold … $512.8 million, up 53.5% (3.9%)
- Fruits and preparations like frozen juices … $229.1 million, up 29.9% (1.7%)
- Other petroleum products … $189.1 million, up 185.4% (1.4%)
- Cotton apparel and household goods … $188.3 million, down 13.8% (1.4%)
- Oilfield and drilling equipment … $177.5 million, up 64.8% (1.35%).
Fastest-Growing Colombian Exports to the U.S.
Even though the following Colombian exports to America show relatively modest amounts, each product category had a robust sales increase in 2008 of at least 104.6%.
- Complete military aircraft … US$17.9 million, up from nil in 2007
- Sorghum, barley, oats … $7 million, up 2,808%
- Food oils and oilseeds … $72.7 million, up 804.4%
- Fuel oil … $795.9 million, up 410.5%
- Gem diamonds … $11.7 million, up 282.5%
- Iron and steel mill products … $105.8 million, up 219.9%
- Non-metallic minerals … $12 million, up 192.6%
- Other commercial vessels … $3.1 million, up 181.2%
- Industrial rubber products … $33.5 million, up 157.8%
- Dairy products and eggs … $9.2 million, up 104.6%.
Colombia’s Top Imports from America
Columbian imports are much more diversified than Columbia’s exports to the U.S. The following top 10 exports from America to Colombia represent 47.6% of Colombia overall imports from the U.S.
- Organic chemicals … US$952.9 million, up 8.5% from 2007 (8.3% of US exports to Colombia)
- Fuel oil … $795.9 million, up 410.5% (7%)
- Corn … $690.3 million, up 23.8% (6%)
- Oilfield and drilling equipment … $517.8 million, up 53.3% (4.5%)
- Plastic materials … $455.2 million, up 9% (4%)
- Telecommunications equipment … $451.3 million, up 41.1% (3.9%)
- Computers … $412.4 million, up 27.3% (3.6%)
- Materials handling equipment … $409.8 million, up 71.9% (3.6%)
- Computer accessories … $383.3 million, up 5% (3.4%)
- Excavating machinery … $371.9 million, up 55.2% (3.3%).
Fastest-Growing Colombian Imports from the U.S.
Like the fastest-growing exports from Colombia, the top 10 list of Colombian growth imports were for relatively small dollar amounts. However, each import category shows a large percentage gain subject to a minimum rise of 104.6%.
- Complete military aircraft … US$17.9 million, up from nil in 2007
- Sorghum, barley, oats … $7 million, up 2,808%
- Food oils and oilseeds … $72.7 million, up 804.4%
- Fuel oil … $795.9 million, up 410.5%
- Gem diamonds… $11.7 million, up 282.5%
- Iron and steel mill products … $105.8 million, up 219.9%
- Non-metallic minerals … $12 million, up 192.6%
- Other commercial vessels … $3.1 million, up 181.2%
- Industrial rubber products … $33.5 million, up 157.8%
- Dairy products and eggs … $9.2 million, up 104.6%.
Comparative Trade Advantages
During 2008, Colombia exported $804.9 million worth of green coffee to the U.S. while importing none of that same commodity from America.
These Colombian-American trade statistics show that Colombia has a comparative advantage over the U.S. in the coffee trade between the two nations.
On the other hand, America exported $690.3 million worth of corn to Colombia in 2008 contrasted with no Colombian corn imported into the U.S.
The $690.3 million statistic clearly shows that America has a comparative advantage in producing corn over their Colombian trade partner.
Sources
This analysis is based on latest statistics from the US Census Bureau- Foreign Trade Statistics and CIA World Factbook as of the date of article publication.
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