Agricultural Imports Fell by 13.1% in Colombia in 2023

The Rural Agricultural Planning Unit (UPRA) provides an analysis of the figures compiled by  the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE), in the “Report on imports of agricultural and agro-industrial products”, in December 2023 and in the consolidated report for the year.

2023 closed with a decrease of 13.1% in the total value of imports, compared to the previous year, totaling US$9,598 million CIF. This reduction is mainly attributed to the decrease in imports of corn, with US$299.5 million (-13.8%), wheat by US$259.6 million (-29.3%) and coffee by US$231.2 million (-47.3%); which means a decrease of 4.9% in imported tons totaling 14.2 million in 2023. This behavior “is mainly explained by the reduction in imports of wheat by 312,320 tons (-14.9%), corn by 208,057 tons (-3.2%) and rice by 53,783 tons (-24.1%),” said Claudia Cortés, director of the UPRA.

In addition, the trade balance closed the year with a surplus of US$1,193 million FOB, although this figure represents a decrease of 9.9% compared to the previous year. In terms of volume, there was a deficit lower, by 1.8%, than the balance presented in 2022, totaling a negative balance of 9.03 million tons.

Imports of agricultural and agro-industrial products in December 2023

For December 2023, the figures reveal an increase of 2.2% compared to the same month in 2022, reaching US$872 million CIF. This increase was mainly driven by the purchase of soy (834.9%), ethyl alcohol (452.6%) and pork (74.2%).

In volume, the increase was 22.2% compared to December 2022, with a total of 1.4 million tons; This is mainly explained by the increase in corn imports, by 243,005 tonnes (46.8%); soybeans, 55,879 tons (963.6%); and ethyl alcohol, 33,928 tons (561.9%).

Context of the international oil price and representative market rate

In December 2023, the international price of oil was US$75.7 per barrel and showed a decrease of 6.9%, compared to the previous month. On the other hand, in December there was an average exchange rate of $3,954; the youngest in the last 18 months.