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Goods imported from the People’s Republic of China accounted for 20% of Colombia’s imports in 2023.
During 2023, Colombia acquired Chinese goods for a total of US$13.5 billion. The figure registered is not far off the US$15.9 billion worth of goods that Colombia imported from the United States last year. However, the gap was even smaller in 2022,when more than US$18.6 billion worth of Chinese goods entered Colombia, compared to the US$18.8 billion worth of products from the U.S., according to La República.
Despite the existence of a Free Trade Agreement with the United States, China has found success selling its goods in the Andean region, positioning itself as the leader in the electric and hybrid vehicle market by 2022, according to the International Energy Agency, by selling approximately four million units.
Technological products are also an important item among Colombian imports from China, where the cell phone brands Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, Lenovo and Alcatel have positioned themselves in the country and, between 2022 and 2023 alone, rose from accounting for 24% of total sales of smartphones in Colombia, to 33% last year.
Exports from Colombia to China have also been increasing, according to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, accumulating a total of US$113 million dollars in 2023 in non-mining exports alone, an increase of 8.4% compared to 2022.
This increase has been taking off since 2005 and this year, according to La República, imports from China are expected to be made up primarily by recording and imaging devices, machinery, equipment required for nuclear reactors, plastic and manufacturing materials, and organic chemical products, which represent 24.9%, 19.9%, 5.5% and 4.5% of total imports in their respective sectors.
Main source:
El consumo de bienes chinos representa 20% de lo que Colombia compra del exterior | La República (2024, Marzo 26). https://www.larepublica.co/globoeconomia/el-consumo-de-bienes-chinos-representa-20-de-lo-que-colombia-compra-del-exterior-3827701
Other related sources:
En 2023, Colombia aumentó sus exportaciones no mineras a México, China y Costa Rica | Ministerio de Comercia, Industria y Turismo (2024, Febrero 12). https://www.mincit.gov.co/prensa/noticias/comercio/en-2023-colombia-aumento-exportaciones-no-mineras#:~:text=Hacia%20China%2C%20el%20pa%C3%ADs%20despach%C3%B3,canasta%20no%20minera%20de%20Colombia.
Colombia estrecha lazos comerciales con China | Ministerio de Hacienda (2023, Septiembre 22). https://www.minhacienda.gov.co/webcenter/ShowProperty?nodeId=%2FConexionContent%2FWCC_CLUSTER-230022%2F%2FidcPrimaryFile&revision=latestreleased