U.S. Agricultural Exports to Colombia: Rising Sales in Response to Trade Liberalization and Changing Consumer Trends

This report explores the performance of U.S. agricultural exports to Colombia over the past decade (2009-19), giving emphasis to leading product categories that show opportunities for further export expansion. Increasing income, an expanding middle class, and dietary changes have led to greater demand for the types of agricultural products imported from the United States. These products include not only bulk commodities (such as grains, oilseeds, and meat) but also less traditional imports—such as pack-aged food, fuel ethanol, and convenience-store items. This process has been facilitated by the Colombia-U.S. Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA), allowing for substantial gains in the market share of U.S. agricultural suppliers in Colombian food consumption. The impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on Colombian agricultural trade is not comprehensively addressed in this report. However, our analysis highlights the market opportunities that showed promise for Colombia’s foreign and domes-tic agricultural suppliers prior to the pandemic as a benchmark for policymaking and future research.