Oil, mining drive Colombia's strong export growth

Colombia's export revenue rose sharply in 2017, driven by the oil and mining industries, national statistics agency Dane said on Monday.

Overall receipts from outbound shipments totaled US$37.8bn, up 19% on the previous year, Dane said in a bulletin.

Exports of fuels and other extractive industry products jumped 32.4% while international orders for agricultural goods, food and beverages increased 7.2%.

The figure for manufactured goods edged 2.4% higher.

"All product groups registered positive changes in 2017," commerce, industry and tourism minister María Lorena Gutiérrez said.

"This shows that we are diversifying our export basket and that we are reaching more and more markets. The increase in exports is the confirmation of that our economy is recovering."

The fastest growing export market was Mexico, where demand for Colombian products grew 64% year-on-year. It was followed by Chile (55%), Argentina (51%), Brazil (37%) and Canada (33%).

OIL RECOVERY

The figures coincide with renewed optimism in Colombia's oil sector, which has been impacted by a four-year price slump and dwindling reserves.

According to the latest BNamericas oil and gas Intelligence Series report, Colombian crude production will rise in 2018 for the first time in three years, buoyed by rebounding prices, new licensing rounds and tax breaks.

Oil is Colombia's most important industry in terms of trade, comprising 26% of its US$30.2bn export revenue in 2016, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity.