The National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane) indicated this Friday that Colombia’s trade deficit in the first month of the year reached the US$1,704.9 million, according to figures also reported by the Directorate of National Taxes and Customs (Dian).
(See: Colombia’s trade deficit with Ukraine and Russia, at US$62.7 million).
Thus, in the first month of the current year, imports totaled US$5,486.5 million, while imports exports were US$3,781.6 millionwhich yields the aforementioned deficit of US$1,704.9 million.
In the same month of 2021, the trade deficit reached US$986.9 millionafter adding US$3,597.9 million in imports and another US$2,610.9 million in exports.
Now, the current data doubles the trade balance deficit of January 2020, before the pandemic, when it reached US$694.5 million due to US$4,113.9 million in imports and another US$3,419.5 million in exports.
As can be seen, the trade balance deficit has been gradually increasing over the years from 2020 to date, however, in 2019 it was recorded the second highest imbalancegreater than US$1,000, in a period of five years.
Specifically, in the pre-pandemic year, the trade balance deficit in January was US$1,023.8 million, after registering US$3,066 million in exports and US$4,090 million in exports.
(See: Benefits of the Vallejo Exprés Plan will go until 2023).
Finally, in January 2018, the trade balance deficit in January reached US$385.8 million.
IMPORTS GROW
In January 2022, Colombian imports grew 58.3% after reaching US$6,050.6 million compared to US$3,822 million in the same month in 2021.
Thus, purchases of fuel division grew 110.3%followed by the categories of manufacturing (59.5%) and agriculture and food (27.4%).
Within the category of fuels, the products that contributed the most to the increase were petroleum, petroleum products and related products (115.1%), which contributed 88.5 percentage points to the total variation of the group.
WHERE DO THE PURCHASES COME FROM?
In January 2022, imports from Colombia originating in china they participated with 29.1% of total imports; It was followed by foreign purchases from the United States (23.6%), Brazil (5.8%), Mexico (4.7%), France (3.8%), Germany (3%) and India (1.5 %).
Imports of laptops from the Asian giant grew 73% in this period.
(See: ‘Colombia has opportunities to take advantage of the war’: IDB).
THE TRADE DEFICIT GROWS WITH UKRAINE AND RUSSIA
In this report, in a conjunctural way, the Dane offers the Colombian trade balance with Russia and Ukraine, the countries that star in the world’s front pages for the bloody war that is already entering its fourth week.
Thus, the trade deficit between Bogotá and Moscow grew 453.14% between January 2022 and the same month of 2021. In the first month of the current year, the imbalance totaled US$49.8 million when comparing imports with value of US$63.2 million and exports for US$13.4 million.
On the other hand, between January 2021 and 2022, the trade deficit of the trade relationship between Bogotá and kyiv grew by 608.76%. In the first month of the current year, the imbalance totaled US$12.9 million after registering imports for US$29.2 million and exports for US$16.3 million.
BRIEFCASE
