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TOP 10
List of Colombia’s Top 10 Exports

Colombia shipped US$31 billion worth of goods around the globe in 2016, down by 5.7% since 2009 when the Great Recession kicked in but down by -13.2% from 2015 to 2016.

Colombia’s top 10 exports accounted for 79.5% of the overall value of its global shipments.

Based on statistics from the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook Database, Colombia’s total Gross Domestic Product amounted to $650 billion in 2016. Therefore, exports accounted for about 4.5% of total Colombian economic output.

From a continental perspective, $11.4 billion in products or 36.9% of Colombian exports by value were delivered to North American countries while 29.1% were sold to Latin American (excluding Mexico) and Caribbean importers. Colombia shipped another 18.3% worth of goods to Europe with 12% delivered to customers in Asia.

Given Colombia’s population of 39.5 million people, its total $47.2 billion in 2016 exports translates to a modest $660 for every resident in that country.

Colombia’s unemployment rate was 11.7% as of January 2017.

TOP 10

The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Colombian global shipments during 2016. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Colombia.

  1. Mineral fuels including oil: US$14.7 billion (47.4% of total exports)
  2. Coffee, tea, spices: $2.5 billion (8%)
  3. Gems, precious metals: $1.7 billion (5.6%)
  4. Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $1.3 billion (4.3%)
  5. Plastics, plastic articles: $1.3 billion (4.1%)
  6. Fruits, nuts: $1 billion (3.3%)
  7. Vehicles : $552.9 million (1.8%)
  8. Sugar, sugar confectionery: $533.8 million (1.7%)
  9. Other chemical goods: $511.5 million (1.7%)
  10. Machinery including computers: $445.5 million (1.4%)

Vehicles were the fastest-growing among the top 10 export categories, up 94.6% in value during the 7-year period starting in 2009.

In second place for improving export sales were miscellaneous chemical goods up 68.1%.

Colombian-made coffee, tea and spices posted the third-fastest gain in value at 56.4%.

Machinery including computers led the declining categories with a -20.4% drop from 2009 to 2016, followed by sugar’s -14.7% depreciation.

Advantages

The following types of Colombian product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.

In a nutshell, net exports is the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.

  1. Mineral fuels including oil: US$10.9 billion (Down by -25.4% since 2009)
  2. Coffee, tea, spices: $2.4 billion (Up by 63.9%)
  3. Gems, precious metals: $1.6 billion (Down by -2.8%)
  4. Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $1.3 billion (Up by 25.4%)
  5. Fruits, nuts: $827.3 million (Up by 10.5%)
  6. Sugar, sugar confectionery: $339.9 million (Down by -36.4%)
  7. Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $109.1 million (Down by -4.5%)
  8. Cocoa: $63.8 million (Up by 139.6%)
  9. Live animals: $42 million (Up by 1,092%)
  10. Ores, slag, ash: $25.8 million (Down by -52.6%)

Colombia has highly positive net exports in the international trade of mineral fuels-related exports particularly crude oil and coal. In turn, these cashflows indicate Colombia’s strong competitive advantages under the oil product category.

Opportunities

Below are exports from Colombia that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Colombia’s goods trail Colombian importer spending on foreign products. Overall, Colombia incurred a -$13.9 billion trade deficit up from -$44.7 million in 2009.

  1. Machinery including computers: -US$4.8 billion (Up by 3.1% since 2009)
  2. Electrical machinery, equipment: -$4.2 billion (Up by 65.6%)
  3. Vehicles : -$3.2 billion (Up by 36.5%)
  4. Organic chemicals: -$1.8 billion (Up by 34.8%)
  5. Pharmaceuticals: -$1.7 billion (Up by 92.1%)
  6. Cereals: -$1.5 billion (Up by 31.1%)
  7. Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$1.3 billion (Up by 45.1%)
  8. Aircraft, spacecraft: -$883.5 million (Down by -65.5%)
  9. Iron, steel: -$862.2 million (Down by -14,496%)
  10. Plastics, plastic articles: -$834.5 million (Up by 287.8%)

Colombia has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for machinery notably computers.

These cashflow deficiencies clearly indicate Colombia’s competitive disadvantages in the international machinery market, but also represent key opportunities for Colombia to improve its position in the global economy through focused innovations.

Companies

Colombian Export Companies

Six Colombian corporations rank among Forbes Global 2000 for 2015. Below is a sample of the major Colombian companies that Forbes included:

  • Ecopetrol (fuel, petrochemicals)
  • Grupo Argos (construction materials)

Wikipedia also lists exporters from Colombia. Selected examples are shown below:

  • Alpina Productos Alimenticios (dairy products)
  • Organizacion Corona (ceramics)
  • Auteco (vehicles)
  • Manuelita (sugar, fruits, vegetables)
  • Ospina Coffee Company (coffee)