Colombia Import Trade Data: $62.78B in 2023, Down 18.9%

The USA and China Together Supply Nearly Half of Colombia's Imports

Colombia imported $62.78 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 18.9% from $77.41 billion the year before, the steepest year-over-year drop across the five years this dataset covers. United States supplied 25.8% of that total, worth $16.18 billion, narrowly ahead of China at 21.6% ($13.57 billion). Together, these two economies alone account for nearly half of everything Colombia imports, a level of combined concentration that goes well beyond what either country holds on its own. The United States relationship reflects decades of established trade ties along with a bilateral free trade agreement in force since 2012, while China's rapid climb up the supplier list mirrors a pattern seen across much of Latin America, where Chinese manufactured goods, machinery, and electronics have steadily displaced other suppliers over the past two decades.

Brazil ranked third at 6.4% ($4.04 billion), and Mexico followed at 4.9% ($3.09 billion). Together, the USA, China, and Brazil, the top three suppliers, account for 53.8% of total import value. Germany added 3.7% ($2.35 billion), France 3.3% ($2.07 billion), Argentina 2.2% ($1.41 billion), India a nearly identical 2.2% ($1.41 billion), Japan 2.2% ($1.36 billion), and Spain rounded out the top ten at 2.0% ($1.26 billion).

Fuel Imports Reveal a Refining Gap

Mineral fuels, mineral oils, and related distillation products led all import categories in 2023, worth $6.49 billion and accounting for 10.3% of total value, a striking entry given that mineral fuels are also Colombia's single largest export category at over 50% of export value. Reporting on Colombia's energy sector explains that although the country is a net oil exporter, it must import refined products, especially diesel fuel, because domestic refining capacity at plants like Barrancabermeja and Cartagena has not kept pace with demand. That gap has drawn attention from energy analysts who warn it could widen further in the years ahead as domestic fuel consumption keeps growing faster than the country's refineries can expand, potentially pushing Colombia toward importing a much larger share of the gasoline and diesel its own drivers and businesses use. Machinery and mechanical appliances followed at a nearly identical 10.3% ($6.44 billion), and electrical machinery and equipment added 9.6% ($6.04 billion).

Vehicles contributed 7.6% ($4.80 billion), and pharmaceutical products added 5.8% ($3.66 billion). Cereals added 4.3% ($2.73 billion), reflecting Colombia's reliance on imported wheat and corn for a population whose agricultural base leans toward coffee, flowers, and sugar rather than staple grains, much of that corn destined for the country's large livestock and poultry feed industry rather than direct human consumption. Plastics contributed 4.2% ($2.65 billion), aircraft and spacecraft parts 3.8% ($2.36 billion), organic chemicals 3.6% ($2.27 billion), and optical, photographic, and medical instruments rounded out the top ten at 3.0% ($1.88 billion). Aside from fuel, this category mix leans heavily industrial, made up mostly of capital goods, vehicles, and components that support manufacturing, construction, and healthcare rather than everyday consumer items, a pattern consistent with an economy still building out its industrial base rather than one that already manufactures most of what it needs.

A Sharp Pullback From a Record 2022

Colombia's import total has followed a similar arc to its exports over the past five years. It stood at $52.70 billion in 2019, fell to $43.49 billion in 2020 as the pandemic curbed demand for machinery, vehicles, and other manufactured goods, then rebounded to $61.10 billion in 2021 and climbed further to a five-year high of $77.41 billion in 2022, before dropping 18.9% to $62.78 billion in 2023, a sharper single-year decline than exports experienced over the same stretch.

Set against the $49.77 billion Colombia exported the same year, this import total leaves the country with a trade deficit of roughly $13.01 billion in 2023, a gap that widens the picture painted by the fuel numbers above: even as Colombia sells crude oil and coal to the world, it spends heavily importing the refined fuel, machinery, and manufactured goods its own economy cannot fully supply, a two-sided relationship with global markets that runs through nearly every part of Colombia's trade profile rather than being confined to any single product or partner. For a closer look at how individual partner countries or product categories break down year over year, the data panels above provide the full detail behind these figures.