Colombia posted a $133 million trade surplus in June, with imports rising 25.5% to $3.1 billion from the same month a year ago.
In the first half of the year, Colombia registered a $1.98 billion trade surplus, compared with a $746.5 million surplus in the same period in 2009, the government statistics department, known as DANE, said Thursday.
Imports for the first six months of the year were up 17.5% at $15.6 billion, DANE said in a statement.
Colombia’s biggest surpluses for the first six months were with the U.S., at $3.37 billion, and with Venezuela, at $675.5 million.
The trade surplus with Venezuela, traditionally Colombia’s second-largest trading partner, plummeted from $2.4 billion a year ago.
The Venezuelan government all but shut the border to Colombian goods amid diplomatic spats between the governments of both countries.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez pledged this week to restore diplomatic and trade ties between their two countries.
Colombia’s widest trade deficit was with Mexico, at $1.3 billion. (Darcy Crowe / Dow Jones Newswires)
