Colombia’s Free-Trade Zones See 85% Jump in Exports
Colombia’s national statistics agency (Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística, DANE) announced August 22 that exports from various free-trade zones (“zonas francas”) soared 85.7% year-on-year in June 2016, boosted by favorable peso-to-dollar exchange rates.
According to DANE, the June 2016 export jump is the largest recorded since 2011 (see chart, above).
“Free-on-board” (FOB) exports from Colombia’s free-trade zones hit US$300 million in June 2016, up from US$161.8 million in June 2015, while imports into these free-trade zones rose to US$217.8 million including cost, insurance and freight (“CIF”), up 36.7% year-on-year.
For the first six months of 2016, exports from Colombia’s free-trade zones are up 58.5% year-on-year, to US$759 million, whereas such exports actually declined 17.8% in the first half of 2015.
The combined total value of merchandise moving through free-trade zones rose to US$1.76 billion through first-half 2016, up from US$1.6 billion in first-half 2015, according to DANE.
Manufacturing Rises 6.6%
On another encouraging front, Colombia’s industrial manufacturing rose 6.6% year-on-year in June 2016, up from a 4% rise in June 2015, according to DANE. The June 2016 hike was the 13th straight month of manufacturing output increses.
For the first six months of 2016, manufacturing output rose 5.9% year-on-year, according to DANE. Sales likewise rose by 4.8% in June 2016 versus June 2015, according to the monthly manufacturing survey (“EMM” in Spanish initials).
