For the first time in three years Colombia’s balance of trade figures for January saw a deficit with export figures of US$4.948 billion outweighing imports of US$4.735 billion, according to Colombia’s national statistics agency DANE.
For an export-led economy such as Colombia’s such figures could be cause for concern. However, looking at the overall numbers for the past 12 months, a healthier picture emerges with Colombia’s exports remaining strong.
Indeed, a balance of trade surplus in 2012 of US$5 billion and exports of $60 billion – a figure almost double that of three years ago – demonstrate continued growth of Colombia’s export industries. Traditional export industries that have contributed to this growth include petroleum, which rose $3.2bn in 2012, and ferronickel, up US$58m in 2012.
Perhaps unsurprisingly in light of the recent strikes, Colombia’s coffee industry saw a decline in 2012 against a background of plummeting global prices in the commodity in recent times. Disconcertingly though, figures from DANE released recently showed that in spite its status as the fourth largest coffee producer in the world, 80% of the coffee consumed in Colombia is in fact imported – mostly from Ecuador and Peru.
As such, the decline in exports is unlikely to be offset by the domestic market, heaping more misery onto coffee farmers who already find it virtually impossible to make a decent living growing the product.
The coffee industry aside though, should the trends seen in 2012 continue this year then Colombia can look forward to another year of healthy economic growth.