Colombia’s exports rose 37.2% in February to $3.95 billion versus the same month a year earlier, the DANE statistics agency said on Thursday.
Latin America’s No. 4 oil producer is expected to grow more than 5 percent this year as the economy continues on a recovery path from the global financial crisis.
Traditional exports — which include coal, oil, coffee and ferronickel — grew 52.2% to $2.73 billion compared with February 2010 while nontraditional exports such as flowers and chemicals increased 12 percent to $1.2 billion, it said.
The world’s fifth-largest coal exporter saw output of the material rise 13.5 percent to 6.1 million tonnes, worth $577 million in February versus a year ago, it said.
The value of oil and products exports went up 53.4 percent to $1.82 billion in the second month of the year compared with the same month of 2010, the agency said in a statement.
Nearly half of exports went to the United States — Colombia’s biggest trade partner — with the European Union coming in 2nd place with 15 percent.
The Andean nation usually runs its main trade surpluses with the United States and Venezuela, and its key deficits with Mexico and China principally.
The DANE will release imports and the trade balance for February on April 15.