Cereals, oil and fertilizers, among the most imported inputs

with the most recent Colombia foreign trade report by the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane), it is already possible to define the behavior of imports that the country has made in seven months of this year.

(Read: The country’s trade deficit: July 2022, the lowest since 2017).

In general, imports from Colombia grew by 44.3% between 2021 and 2022, after adding US$31,454.1 million CIF last year and US$45,397.1 million CIF in 2022.

It is worth clarifying that the CIF value is the calculation that includes the cost of the merchandise, insurance and freight.

But not only have they increased in monetary mass, they have also done so in volume traded. The imports totaled 20,797,368 tons in the first seven months of the year, a volume that increased by 14.4% to reach 23,786,450 tons in 2022.

Now, just for the month of July, thes imports totaled US$6,890.8 million CIF in 2022that is, 43.5% more than in the same month last year when it was US$4,801.4 million CIF.

And, in terms of volume, during the seventh month of the year se foreign purchases moved by 3,334,805 tonswhich represents 20.5% more than in 2021, when it reached 2,766,902 tons.

With these general lines on the behavior of purchases abroad, it is possible to delve into the main products marketed by volume and not by resources invested, since some of them, due to external factors such as the war in Ukraine and the consequences of covid-19have higher base values, such as, for example, the price of fuel.

(Also: The possible effects in Colombia of a global economic recession).

Taking this into account and taking the list of external purchases according to tariff chapters, the main product imported in seven months is cereals, for an amount of US$1,975.8 million CIFthat is, 40.3% over the value required a year ago when it was US$1,408.3 million CIF.

Regarding the volume marketed, this was 5,153,743 tons, that is, 6.7% higher than the 4,830,070 tons that was registered in the same period of 2021.
The second most imported product this year is fuel, mineral oil and by-products. According to the document of the statistical entity, the cost of these imports grew 161.3% over the first seven months, after obtaining US$4,480,081 million CIF from US$1,714,210 million CIF.

And, in terms of the volume sold, it grew by 66.3% in one year after reaching 4,724,927 tons in 2022 from 2,841,783 tons the previous year.

Next, the third category is that of waste from food industries and animal feed. Foreign purchases of this division totaled US$917 million in 2022 from lUS$731.1 million in the same period of 2021, this implies a growth of 25.4%.

On the movement of merchandise, this grew by 8.8% from 1,348,426 tons in 2021 up to 1,466,925 tons in 2022.

Fertilizers have become the fourth most imported product so far this year. In value, they went from US$480.3 million CIF between January and July of last year to US$1,067.3 million CIF for the same period this year, that is, a 122.2% variation.

(Keep reading: Oil, inputs and inflation: effects of the Russian war in Colombia).

In fact, in terms of movement of tons, this product registers a slight contraction of 1.6% between 2021 and 2022, going from 1,249,516 tons last year to 1,229,509 tons in the current year. However, this amount still allows him to be among the first five positions. This contraction can be explained by the supply difficulties of the raw material as a scourge of the war in Ukraine.

The first five boxes are closed with the category of cast iron, iron and steel. Throughout the period January-July 2021, this division totaled US$1,363.2 million CIFwhile for 2022 it has reached US$1,485 million CIF, an increase of 8.9%.
However, despite this upward trend, this product has shown a drop of 25.8% in terms of the content mobilized, going from 1,754,565 tons in 2021 to 1,301,819 tons in 2022.

Despite the reduction, it still remains one of the most commercialized products.

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