Exporting regions in Colombia continue to grow

Colombia’s exporting regions have increased their exports of non-mining products. Windows, doors, beet sugar, latex balloons, miniature carnations, perfumes and even self-adhesive cardboard are the products that make up the country’s export offer in recent years.

And that has not been thanks to chance. No. The programs that the Colombian government has implemented in the regions, with the support of the chambers of commerce, have achieved significant sales of non-traditional products abroad.

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Exporting regions in Colombia receive support from the State

One of the commitments of the Foreign Trade Policy for Internationalization and Sustainable Productive Development, which has been outlined by the government of President Gustavo Petro, is precisely the internationalization of the territories, but also to stimulate the productive and exporting culture.

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism (MinCIT), and the entities attached to the entity, have made progress in an articulated effort so that the territories become spearheads for the internationalization of companies of all sizes, especially small and medium-sized ones, as well as associations.

“We have instruments and mechanisms available to entrepreneurs in the regions to promote the sophistication and diversification of the export basket. For example, there is the Fábricas de Internacionalización program, or the trade promotion events led by ProColombia”, says the MinCIT.

Likewise, the internationalization of regional companies is also promoted with digital tools such as Colombia B2B Marketplace, the Export Access platform, export training programs, among others.

In addition, there is the Vallejo Plan that allows temporary imports of capital goods or inputs without tariffs and VAT, as long as they are used to transform the goods to be exported.

Most Recent Colombian Exports Figures

Colombia has traditionally exported coffee to the world and is known worldwide for its high quality. Coffee exports have been one of the country’s main sources of income.

In turn, flowers such as roses, carnations, orchids and others grown in the country are highly valued in international markets. Another flagship product is bananas, of which we are one of the largest exporters in the world, as well as textiles and clothing, a sector that has experienced significant growth in recent years.

On the other hand, according to the Directorate of Economic Affairs of Analdex, in the monthly record for the month of May 2023, Colombian foreign sales reached the figure of USD $ 4,531.2 million, ranking as the highest monthly figure so far this year.

However, sales in Colombia’s exporting regions fell by 2.8% in value compared to the same month of the previous year. The weight of exports grew by 50.1%, reaching 9.4 million metric tons, mainly driven by foreign sales of thermal pulp.

The Analdex report shows that, by product group, foreign sales of fuels and extractive industry products accounted for 49.7% (50.9% in April 2023), manufacturing with 20.9%, agriculture and livestock with 14.8%, food and beverages with 7.2% and other sectors with 7.3%.

Exporting regions in Colombia total sales of USD $8.5 million

However, detailed figures on Colombia’s exporting regions reveal that the country does not have very consolidated statistics.

Figures from the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) state that total non-mining-energy exports in the first quarter of 2023 amounted to USD $8,457.1 million, registering a decrease of -7.5% with respect to the same period of 2022.

This reduction is mainly explained by the fall of coffee, tea and spices (-41.3%); live plants and floriculture products (-8.9%), plastic materials and their manufactures (-28.2%), edible fruits (-15.1%) and animal or vegetable fats and oils (-20.8%).

Among the main products sold abroad in this group are unroasted coffee with USD $1,112 million, followed by fresh flowers and buds with USD $463 million, aluminum doors and windows with USD $317.5 million and bananas with USD $260 million.

These are the exporting regions in Colombia that rebounded in 2022

Looking back, last year exporting regions in Colombia such as Quindío, Tolima, Huila, Magdalena, Atlántico, Valle del Cauca, Bogotá and Cundinamarca accounted for 58.6% of the country’s non-mining export basket and are among the 17 departments that contribute most to these sales, according to an analysis by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, provided to Más Colombia.

The growth in exports of doors, windows and their frames (64%), avocado hass (20%) and medicines for human use (11%) stands out.

These departments, in addition, had increases in their foreign sales above those recorded by the country in that class of products, because while Colombian exports of non-mining energy goods increased last year by 18.8% (reaching USD $21,608 million), these recorded variations, each one, above that value and together had a growth of 27.4% compared to 2021.

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Thus, the department of Quindío, one of the smallest in terms of territorial extension (1,845 km2), led the ranking of exports of non-mining products in 2022. Its small size has not been an obstacle to have such figures to its credit.

According to Mincomercio, this department went from selling USD $244 million to the world in 2021 to USD $491 million in 2022, that is, an increase of 100.8%. 95% of the exports made by this department correspond to coffee and grew 112.6%.

Tolima also

The second department that registered the highest growth in non-mining exports was Tolima. From exporting USD $60 million in these goods in 2021, it went to USD $98 million in 2022, a growth of 62.4%.

Other coffee extracts, essences and concentrates were the main product exported by Tolima, representing 71%, with an increase of 95.3% compared to exports in 2021.

And Huila!

In third place in this top 8 was Huila. In 2021, the department exported USD $704 million and last year achieved USD $984 million for a growth of 39.8%.

This result was driven by coffee, which accounted for 93.5% of these exports from the department with a growth of 42.1%.

Tilapia exports also contributed, which accounted for 5.5% and increased by 16.9%, as well as soy bean extracts, which represent 0.1% of Huila’s non-mining exports. The latter grew 92.4%.

Support from associations and companies

The National Association of Exporters (Analdex) groups all those companies that in one way or another start exporting. It does not matter if they are SMEs, large or medium-sized companies.

Thus, Analdex coordinates on a permanent basis with the regional managers of the Southwest of the country, based in Cali, the Eje Cafetero, based in Pereira, Antioquia based in Medellin and the Caribbean region, based in Barranquilla.

This is a work on capacity building in exports and internationalization plans in various sectors that directly impacts exporting companies and above all strengthens exporting regions in Colombia.

“Likewise, through what we call Mi Club Pymex, we work on export plans through cross-border e-commerce, among others. We do this work in some cases with the Economic Development Secretariats of the Mayors’ and Governors’ offices, in addition to the Chambers of Commerce and of course ProColombia”, says Javier Diaz, president of Analdex.

On the same subject of training, Carmen Caballero, president of ProColombia, says that “in exports we aim to bring international demand with the Colombian offer, and for that we have several tools that we make available to entrepreneurs, such as training programs, business rounds and macro business rounds, trade missions of international buyers to the country, accompaniment of national entrepreneurs in specialized fairs, exploratory missions to strengthen their knowledge of the markets, among others”.

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“We have, for example, the Training Program with which we are training Colombian entrepreneurs to internationalize their services on topics such as sustainability, innovation and the environment”.

Likewise, the president of ProColombia said that another program is La Vuelta al Mundo (Around the World), a weekly space dedicated to a certain market with which Colombia’s commercial opportunities are made known.

Along these lines, there is also the Futurexpo of the Regions program and the training sessions on how to export.These sessions are no longer concentrated in the capital cities, as was the case in the past, but in smaller municipalities where we have found a great reception.

Every year the ranking changes and that is why the regions and their local governments focus their efforts and strengthen the export offer to generate income and jobs by sending their products to the United States and Europe, and in Latin America countries such as Ecuador, Mexico, Brazil and Peru are relevant.

The supply of exporting regions in Colombia

The list of the main non-mining energy products exported by the regions includes:

Antioquia: coffee; bananas; vehicles for transporting people; hass avocado; fresh pompons and coffee extracts and essences, among others.

Valle del Cauca: cane or beet sugar; coffee; chocolates, candies and confectionery; electric accumulators; tires; medicines for human use and palm oil, among others.

Atlántico: doors, windows and their frames; palm oil; fungicides; toilet or kitchen linen; electric accumulators; plastic caps, plugs and closing devices; and latex balloons, among others.

Cundinamarca: fresh flowers and buds; roses; carnations; other beauty preparations; perfumes and toilet waters; alstroemeria; miniature carnations and coffee, among others.

Bolívar: polyvinyl chloride; polypropylene; propylene copolymers; self-adhesive paper and cardboard; iron elbows, bends and sleeves; herbicides and mineral fertilizers, among others.

Caldas: coffee; freeze-dried coffee; chocolates, candies and confectionery; other non-cocoa confectionery; refrigerator and freezer combinations; avocado hass; machetes and coffee extracts and essences, among others.

Magdalena: bananas; palm oil; almond oil; coffee; crustaceans; wheat and meslin flour; soybean oil and crude glycerol and yams, among others.

Huila: coffee; tilapia fillets; tilapia; other cocoa; cane sugar and trout, among others.

Quindío: coffee; avocado hass; other fruits and edible parts of plants; Tahitian lemons; tensoactive preparations for washing; bakery products and oranges, among others.

Risaralda: hass avocado; vehicles for the transportation of more than 10 persons; coffee; liquid dielectric transformers; cane or beet sugar; television receivers and motorcycles, among others.

Tolima: coffee extracts and essences; other plants and seeds; coffee; Tahitian lemons; fertilized eggs for incubation of hens of the species gallus domesticus; cane sugar and tableware and other household articles, among others.

Colombia is producing more pet products and export opportunities are growing