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As of the two-year mark of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, 1,689 Colombian companies have exported to the United States for the first time during the period of May 2012 and February 2014, helping to bring 362 new non-mining and non-coffee products to the market, PROCOLOMBIA announced today. The industries that have seen the most new exports include manufacturing, agribusiness and textile and apparel, with products purchased by companies located as far away as Hawaii and Utah states that were not reached out before the agreement.
" The implementation of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States was a major accomplishment for Colombia in 2012,&rdquo said Maria Claudia Lacouture, President of PROCOLOMBIA, the Colombian agency charged with promoting trade, tourism and investment. " Today, we have over 1600 companies taking advantages of the tools offered by the Colombian Government through PROCOLOMBIA to increase business opportunities and trade with the United States. In particular, we have small and medium size companies exporting which are seeing the massive value in the treaty. These statistics prove the success of the agreement,&rdquo says Mrs. Lacouture.
The U.S.-Colombia FTA took effect on May 15, 2012, eliminating trade barriers and allowing billions of dollars of U.S. exports to flow into Colombia. Colombian exports have experienced a positive compounded growth of 3.3% from 2010 to 2013, which shows the strong economic momentum the country is undergoing. While in 2014, the overall monetary amount of exports from Colombia to the U.S. have decreased due mainly to the mining and coffee products the non-mining products which are the ones benefited from the FTA have increase in the number of companies exporting, the types of products, and the number of destination markets. After the agreement, Colombian products have been bought by over 109 cities in the USA versus 61 cities that used to buy before the treaty in 2012.
Within the agribusiness industry, a total of 46 new foods have reached the U.S. market for the first time in the past two years. In addition, the Colombian government is also investing in training and support of phytosanitaires conditions to increase product access. Items like the gooseberry and Hass avocados have specifically benefitted from the decrease in agricultural restrictions. Overall, the sector has seen a 6.9 percent growth resulting US$35.9 million more in sales. Other new products include maple syrup, oils and mineral water.
Certain sectors within the manufacturing industry, has seen marked growth, including the instruments and apparatus sector like telecommunication devices, voice transmission machines, and magnetic stripe cards among others. Since the FTA, this sector has seen a 51.6 percent increase, resulting in more than US$117 million in sales comparatively. Likewise, the construction materials sector saw a 23.2 percent increase with 16 new companies exporting for the first time, reaching a total of US$110.1 million in sales with the help of new Colombian exports such as doors, windows, racks, and tiles among others.
The pharmaceutical sector also saw marked increases, experiencing a 55 percent growth in exports and generating more than US$12.4 million more in sales than prior to the FTA.
Colombian products reach more than 15 states in the U.S., including Texas, New York, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, New Jersey, Connecticut, Hawaii, California, Utah, Wisconsin, Georgia, Washington, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
For more information on Colombian products and the free trade agreement, please visit http://www.proexport.com.co/en.
