Major Construction and Design Expo Coming To Bogotá May 19-24

In the last two years, the construction sector has grown 9% as a part of the Colombian economy. According to the Colombian Construction Chamber of Commerce (Camacol) estimates, building construction used $28.5 billion in products and services, over 40% more than in 2010; evidence that construction is a great driver of productivity and economic activity in Colombia.

This year the combination of Colombia’s Expoconstruccion and Expodiseño events will make the exposition the second largest construction related event in all of Latin America, with over 586 exhibitors, and thousands of attendees from all parts of the construction, design, and architecture industries.

“The building industry today is growing at twice the rate of the total economy, and its portion of the economy has grown by 9% between 2012 and 2014 as a cluster. It’s the third most important sector in the economy, and the dynamism in demand that this sector generates is $ 28.5 billion in 27 sub-sectors, 74 product lines, covering eight of the nine major sectors in the consumption structure of the country.

Sandra Forero Ramirez is the President of Camacol

Under the construction challenges of the country, this sector is a catalyst for growth and market expansion not only in traditional subsectors, such as cement, glass and brick, but in other such as wood and plastic, and rubber, which have grown from 2000 to 2013 by 16% and 8.5% respectively,” says Sandra Forero, executive chairman of Camacol.

The country’s growth has likewise had an effect on the construction and design sector. Even looking  only at government projects, construction activity has reached $14.9 billion with annual growth of 13% and that should continue to climb at the government launches ambitious projects such as airport expansions and the 4G Highway building campaign.

“We want to continue to give momentum to the producers and the entire value chain of the construction sector and support export-oriented growth, so we are working on a catalog of exporters who support this endeavor,” says Forero

The event will take place at Corferias, Bogotá’s primary convention and exposition site. Investment promotion agency Procolombia is hosting a delegation of international buyers, with participants coming from as far away as Ghana, Rwanda and Angola.

“There are 121 businesses from 24 countries, 59 of which are coming for the first time; that’s to say 48.8% of the mission,” said María Claudia Lacouture, the president of Procolombia.

“The customers in Ghana are more and more demanding, and the development of our infrastructure is growing. This made us think of Colombia as a provider because we know the quality of their products,” said James Yankah, director of Topp Core Logistics Ghana.

Guatemala leads the foreign exhibitors with 18 companies participating, followed by the United States with 17, Ecuador with 14, and Panamá with 12.  During the 2013 Expoconstrucción, Colombian businesses reported writing $59 million in business, primarily with Panamá, Chile, Guatemala, and Puerto Rico.