This is the landscape of agricultural inputs in Colombia

The war between Ukraine and Russia directly affects not only the nations involved but Colombia, since the agricultural inputs imported into the country largely come out of this region.

Fertilizers and imports of this product to Colombia come mainly from Russia, the United States and China, capturing 70% of the country's domestic market.

In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture maintained that in 2021, 20% of all imported fertilizers came from that Eurasian nation, that is equivalent to 437,876 tons of basic inputs for crops.

Despite this shortage, the company Nitrofert assured that there are currently 200,000 tons of fertilizers available with which it will be able to supply domestic production in Colombia between March and May.

“This availability represents an important addition in the search for new options for the Colombian agricultural sector in the face of the expectations generated by the geopolitical situation that has an impact on the supply and demand of key products for agricultural companies and small growers. This also means that we are making our full capacity and reach available in the market to contribute to the guarantee of supply for the Colombian sector,” said Andrés Piñero, president of Nitrofert for Colombia.

The manager of Fedepapa told La República that he is not concerned about the shortage but the prices of fertilizers in the sector.

“There are fertilizers that have increased their price by 80%. But urea, for example, has risen by 150%,” said the businessman.

He also added that a couple of days ago the union met with the main importers and manufacturers of inputs, who said that there is supply for the remainder of the year

“We have 14 supply warehouses and we have supply in all of them,” he said.

In the same vein, María Helena Latorre, executive director of the Andi Proculture Chamber, told the media that there is supply, but it is not known for how long.

María Helena Latorre, executive director of the Andi Proculturas Chamber, stressed that supply is assured for the sector, but not for long. According to Latorre.

“There will be no shortage, because the installed capacity of plants that produce fertilizers is at 65%, so there is plenty of room to increase their production,” Latorre said.

“Although the National Government tells us not to worry because we have a guaranteed supply, we need to have the exact numbers and types of products that the Colombian market has so that there are no surprises afterwards,” Bedoya said.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, 2022 began with significant growth in exports in the agricultural sector. According to the latest report, in the first month of the year Colombia's sales abroad totaled US$815.8 million, which represented a growth of 24%, compared to the same period in 2021, when the figure totaled US$658 million.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Rodolfo Zea Navarro highlighted the growth of non-traditional products “We have come from a record year in exports, as was 2021, and we are following that trend. In the first month of 2022, Colombian producers sold US$815.8 million, an important figure marked by traditional products, which increased 20.4% and non-traditional producers that did so by 31%,” explained the head of the agricultural portfolio.

In the case of traditional ones, the increase in value of coffee exports (30.6%) stands out. In non-traditional products such as corn (428%); live cattle (162.1%); and palm oil (117.3%) grew above 100%. However, there are also other representative cases such as pineapple and its preparations (52.2%); cape gooseberry (30.6%); and cocoa (24.6%).

In addition, the agriculture portfolio indicated that it is important to highlight that in January 2022 exports grew, both in value and volume. According to the report, 443,276 tons were exported in the first month of the year, while in the same period in 2021 the figure closed at 398,427 tons, that is, an increase of 11.3%.

According to figures from the main destinations of agricultural exports, the United States remains the main buyer of agricultural products with a share of 38.4%. The top five is complemented by the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Egypt with 6.4%; 4.9%; 4.9%; and 3.7%, respectively.

Finally, Minister Zea Navarro added that thanks to the contribution of different government entities such as MinComercio, Foreign Ministry, ICA, Invima, ProColombia, the support of unions and producers, and the leadership of President Iván Duque with the Health Diplomacy strategy, 59 Colombian agricultural products have been admissible to 29 countries.

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