Colombia is the rising star of Latin America and is the only country with Atlantic & Pacific coastlines making it the gateway both in and out of South America. This amazing country has undergone a massive transformation in the last 10 to 20 years and is fast-becoming the international business hub of the region.
Here is a look into Colombia’s top five exports.
OIL & PETROLEUM
Colombia produces on average 853,600 barrels per day (bbl/d) and is ranked 22 among the world’s top oil-producing countries and is the 4th largest oil producer in Latin America following Brazil, Venezuela and Mexico. Oil is the main driver of the Colombian economy and following the recent global drop in oil prices there has been a significant push to diversify the economy to become less oil dependent.
COAL
It’s another fossil fuel in the form of coal that ranks second in Colombia’s top 5 exports. Drummond, a company from the US, is the lead exporter in Colombia with a total of 32,378,947 metric tons in coal exports in 2018. 85% of Colombian coal is produced in one of the 32 Departments of Colombia - La Guajira - in the north-east of the country. Colombia is the fifth-largest exporter of coal in the world.
COFFEE
Colombia is the third biggest coffee producer in the world, following Brazil and Vietnam. Colombian coffee is 100% arabica. Approximately 40% of Colombia Coffee exports goes straight to the United States. Most Colombian coffee is produced in the eje cafetero (coffee zone) in the centre of the country – one of the best places to visit in Colombia (we will talk about this in more detail in another blog post).
FLOWERS
Colombia has approximately 1,500 different types of flowers and they even have a feria (festival) to celebrate them, called “La Feria de las Flores" in Medellín. This should come as no surprise as Colombia is the second-most bio-diverse country with more than 130,000 different plant species. Colombia is beloved for blooms such as, Orchids, chrysanthemums, lilies and Michaelmas daisies. The industry has an annual worth of over USD $1 billion.
GOLD
Mining is a significant sector in Colombia and gold is not the only precious metal they export. There is a variety of minerals, including gold, nickel, silver, platinum, copper and uranium, which are mined across Colombia. Even the Nobel Peace Prize received by former president of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos in 2017 was made by gold produced in Colombia. Colombia is the largest exporter of high-quality emeralds in the world and mining accounts for approximately 25-30% of exports. In our research we discovered some very strange and random Colombian exports we bet you didn’t know about: Wooden speakers, canned tamales and suckling pig, furniture for theaters, movie theaters and auditoriums, ultralight aircraft, beetles, butterflies, silicone implants, cloth books, condoms for people allergic to latex, peanut butter and artificial teeth.
If you would like to know more about Colombia or what it's like to do an internship program in South America. Please contact a member of our team. If you would like to learn about our new online internships - click here. This blog post was written & published by Intern Colombia on 17 January 2019 Sources:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
https://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/col/
http://www.drummondltd.com/drummond-once-again-positioned-itself-as-colombias-leading-coal-exporter/?lang=en
https://www.colombia.co
https://www.continentalgold.com/en/investors/why-colombia/
https://www.ft.com/content/80bba74c-38ef-11e7-ac89-b01cc67cfeec
https://wits.worldbank.org/CountrySnapshot/en/COL/textview
http://www.procolombia.co
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