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Colombia Direction of Trade
Unavailable
Figure 8. Trade Structure, 1986
Colombia's primary export markets were the Western
industrial
countries, which purchased 79 percent of all exports in
1985.
Developing countries absorbed 18 percent; the remainder
went to the
Soviet Union and East European countries. The United
States was the
largest market, accounting for 33 percent of Colombian
exports in
1985. It was followed by West Germany with 16 percent of
the
market, Latin America and the Caribbean with 14 percent,
the
Netherlands with 5 percent, Japan with 4 percent, and
Britain with
3 percent.
The role of the United States in Colombia's export
strategy was
expanding in the late 1980s. This resulted primarily from
the
growing United States market for Colombian oil. Colombia
exported
57,000 barrels of oil per day to the United States in
1986, and
twice that amount in 1987, to become the ninth largest
supplier of
crude oil to the United States. Colombia also registered
small
increases in the manufactured goods and cut flowers
markets.
Colombia's imports, unlike its exports, were
predominantly
processed or manufactured goods; in 1986 approximately 40
percent
were categorized as capital goods, and 46 percent were
considered
intermediate goods or raw materials necessary for
manufacturing.
Machinery and equipment, including specialized transport
equipment,
constituted 38 percent of total imports.
Developed countries produced most of Colombia's
imports. In
1985 nearly 73 percent of total imports originated in
Western
industrial countries, 26 percent in developing countries,
and 1
percent in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The United
States
was the single largest exporter to Colombia, providing 35
percent
of all goods shipped to Colombia in 1985. The Western
Hemisphere--
excluding the United States and Canada--provided 24
percent of
Colombian imports, half of which came from Venezuela,
Brazil, and
Mexico. Other exporters included Japan with 10.4 percent
of the
market, West Germany with 6.4 percent, Canada with 3.8
percent, and
France with 3.1 percent.
Data as of December 1988
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