The Colombian industrial sector showed recovery signals at the end of July 2025with a 2.9 % growth compared to the same month last year. This was revealed by the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) in its report of the Industrial Production Index (IPI). In this sense, six sectors stood out for a great increase in their potential.
In the annual variation (July 2025 against July 2024), 20 of the 26 activities measured by the DANE showed positive results. Among the fastest growing were the following six:
– Manufacture of other transport equipment (49.7 %).
– Printing and production activities (18.8 %).
– Preparation of clothing (15.2 %).
– Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi -trailers (14.9 %).
– Production of electrical devices and equipment (12.1 %).
– Manufacture of furniture, mattresses and somieres (11.4 %).
These activities together contributed 4.7 percentage points to the annual variation of the index. However, six branches that fell subtracted 1.8 percentage points, evidencing that recovery is not yet homogeneous.
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Behavior in the year: the three outstanding sectors
Mining
Istock
The report stressed that three productive branches were located in positive terrain: the manufacturing industry with a 5.8 %increase, the supply of electricity and gas with an advance of 3.9 %and the collection, treatment and distribution of water with an increase of 3.1 %.
In contrast, the exploitation of mines and quarries was the only one that registered a setback, with a fall of -8 %, which partially stopped the good performance of the rest of the sector.
When analyzing the period January -July 2025, in the face of the same period of 2024, the IPI registered a slight negative variation of -0.2 %.
In this consolidated, two sectors presented decreases:
– Exploitation of mines and quarries, with -7.7 %.
– Water treatment, treatment and distribution, with -0.7 %.
In contrast, two others showed rebounds:
– Supply of electricity and gas, with 0.9 %.
– Manufacturing industry, with 1.9 %.
In total, 14 of the 26 industrial activities presented negative variations, subtracting 2.4 percentage points from the indicator. On the other hand, 12 positive activities added 2.2 percentage points, partially compensating the result.
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12 months panorama
In the variation from August 2024 to July 2025, compared to the same previous period, the IPI registered a decrease of -1 %.
In this balance, 15 industrial activities had negative performances and subtracted 2.5 percentage points, while 11 branches grew and contributed 1.6 percentage points.
The activities with the greatest setback in this period were:
– Hulla extraction (stone coal) with -14.5 %.
– Manufacture of motor vehicles with -12.1 %.
– Production of basic metals with -8.7 %.
These results reflect that, although the industry has specific rebounds, challenges persist in strategic sectors such as mining and metallurgy.
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