China gains in imports of products to Colombia

China has increased its share of total product imports to Colombia since 2018.

With data for the entire calendar year of 2020, China ranked as the second external supplier of merchandise in Colombia (a share of 23.8 percent).

Thus, China was below the United States (24.1%) and ahead of Mexico (6.9%), according to data from DANE and DIAN.

But China’s trend has been growing without parallel, going from a share of 18.9% in total imports in all of 2017, to 24.1% in January 2021.

In the intermediate period, this portion increased from 20.6% in 2018 to 20.8% in 2019.

Product imports

The main trading partners of Colombia classified by imports are the United States, China and Mexico.

For one thing, imports from the United States last year were $ 10.5 billion in 2020 compared to $ 13.3 billion in 2019.

According to preliminary figures, imports originating in the United States were 1 billion in January 2021 compared to 1.2 billion in the same month of 2020.

On the other hand, imports from China totaled $ 10.4 billion in 2020 compared to $ 11 billion in 2019.

While external purchases from China in January 2021 totaled 943.4 million dollars compared to 1 billion dollars in the same month of 2020.

According to the Bank of the Republic of Colombia, exports of goods from this country decreased 21% in 2020 compared to 2019, mainly due to a 45.2% decrease in exports of oil and its derivatives.

Non-traditional exports, including emeralds, increased 1.5%, from 15.032 million in 2019 to 15.253 million dollars in 2020.

Among industrial exports, the largest increases among the categories of specifically identified export products were registered in food, which increased by 26.1%, textiles and manufactures, which increased 9.8%, and manufactures and paper production, which increased they expanded 23.4 percent.