2022 was one of the historic years for mineral exports, since their values had a significant increase. During this year, External sales reached US$20,387 million, an increase of 52% compared to the directly previous year and the best in the country’s history.
(Conflict grows in oil and mining areas of the country).
However, in terms of production, the picture is different. According to the mineral production reports of the National Mining Agency (ANM), in 2022 the production of coal, gold, silver, platinum and emeralds fellwith double-digit negative variations.
The data reveals that the deepest drop occurred in the case of emerald production, which totaled 293,000 carats, that is, 69.5% less than in 2021, when it was 963,000 carats.
(‘There are already lawsuits against the tax company, we will support some’: ACM).
However, These data contrast with the Dane and ACM reports, which estimate higher production figures.
One of these cases is that of coal, which according to the export data of the statistical entity was 60.93 million metric tons.
Sebastián Martínez, economic director of the ACM, explained that to this data (corresponding to thermal, metallurgical and coke coal) we must add internal consumption, which is estimated between 1.5 and 2 million tons. He also pointed out that coke production requires an extra amount of coal.
For this reason, the Association estimated that last year the production of this mineral was about 65 million tons. This is a difference comparable to the 53.95 million published by the ANM.
(The keys of the PND on the energy mining sector).
This disparity with the data also occurs in the case of gold.
Agency figures show that in 2022, gold production was 1.14 million troy ounces. However, in this case, the Colombian Mining Association also reports a higher figure, with 1,558 million ounces. Although in 2022 this represented a drop compared to the previous year, it is still higher data.
Sources from the sector explained that this discrepancy in the data has been constantly recorded with what the official agency has presented, compared to the Dane data.
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