The United States is by far Huila’s main trading partner, but Venezuela is already among the five most important. Coffee, fillets and other fish meats and cocoa beans are the products that the department exported the most. On the contrary, the country had a setback.
CATERIN MANCHOLA
@cate_manchola
At the end of the first quarter of this year 2024, Huila’s exports recovered from the bad moment that occurred last year and were in positive territory, in addition, they contrasted with the national panorama.
A Dane report shows that exports from Huila – excluding oil and its derivatives – increased by 13.7% between January and March in value.
According to the document, Opita external sales rose from 166 million FOB dollars to 189 million FOB dollars. This translates into a contribution of just 0.3 percentage points to the national total, according to calculations by the statistical entity.
In total, the country’s exports – excluding oil and its derivatives – amounted to 7,758 million FOB dollars, but during the same period of the previous year they had reached 8,870 million FOB dollars, therefore, it translates into an annual drop in the -12.5%.
The agriculture shows its face
Among the products that Huila sends the most to the world, coffee stands out first, which represented 80% of the exports of this region, according to a report from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism.
And it is because the department is the largest producer of grain in the country; as is also the case in fish production, another of the main products sold. In addition, it is the fourth largest producer of cocoa, according to official data.
That is why the second most exported good is fillet and other fish meats, followed by liquid pumps, then fresh fish, and fifthly cocoa beans.
Likewise, the ranking of the most marketed products includes electrical transformers, other products of animal origin, frozen fish, other fresh fruits and sugar.
Huila’s partners
The Mincomercio report also presents a consolidated list of the 10 main destination countries for Opita exports.
It is noteworthy that the main destination of Huila’s foreign sales was the United States, which represents 37% of these. In second place is Canada (8%), then Belgium (7%), followed by Japan (6%) and in fifth place Venezuela (5%).
Later Italita (4%), South Korea (3%), Australia (3%), China (3%) and Germany (2%).
Total exports
In the January – March period, total Colombian exports were US$11,262 million FOB and registered a decrease of -9.4%, compared to the same period in 2023. However, the exported volume reached 25.1 million tons, registering a growth of 3.6%.
For the National Association of Foreign Trade -Analdex, the drop in value was explained mainly by the decrease in sales to the rest of the world of products such as thermal coal (-46.1%) and non-monetary gold (-25.3 %).
While the Colombian American Chamber – AmCham Colombia emphasized the importance of “diversifying exports and maximizing commercial opportunities, especially in times of slowdown. It is proposed: Pact for Opportunities for Growth to move towards a sustainable economic future and reactivate the economy.”
Finally, he indicated that said pact “seeks to promote economic growth through 5 strategies: optimal use of opportunities, adaptation, training and development of business skills, job creation and sustainable development.”
It is worth remembering that the year 2023 closed for Colombian exports with a cumulative drop of -12.9% and according to the National Planning Department, the main reason behind this downward trend throughout the year was attributed “to the decrease in global demand, motivated by lower growth in global economic activity.”
The above, in line with projections that place global trade growth at 3.3% in 2024 and 3.6% in 2025, below the historical average growth rate of 4.9%.
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