For days, relations between Colombia and Guatemala have been tense as a result of the Central American country’s decision to link a judicial process against the Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquez.
It is a Nation with which Colombia has maintained commercial ties for some time, and for the moment, the Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva He ruled out that existing relationships be reviewed, although what is happening will be analyzed.
(Also read: Crisis Colombia and Guatemala: will the tension subside due to the process against the Ministry of Defense?)
In this context, it is important to know how big is the commercial relationship that is maintained and How much could Colombia or Guatemala lose? if they came to a mameluco.
According to data from Dane, between January and November 2022, Colombia exported to Guatemala more than 262.2 million dollars in different non-mining energy products, a figure that is 15.8 percent higher than that registered in the same period of 2021.
These represent exports only 1.3 percent of all sales that the country reported during these months, which totaled 19,844 million dollars (+20.9 percent), the highest value recorded in a period from January to November.
This figure was moved 692 companies from 16 departments that export non-mining goods to Guatemala. Antioquia led with sales of 57.06 million dollars, followed by Bogotá (52.2 million dollars), Bolívar (38.4 million dollars), Valle del Cauca (35 million dollars) and Cundinamarca (27.8 million dollars). millions of dollars).
(Also read: Crisis with Guatemala: How far can tension go because of the Velásquez case?)
The most shipped during this period of time was household appliances, plastics and pharmaceuticals. It is striking that during these months exports of plastic in primary forms fell 36.8 percent, while those of household items increased 77.5 percent.
Regarding investments, 103.9 million dollars arrived in Guatemala -to the third quarter of 2022- from Colombian investors. On the contrary, the Guatemalans withdrew 20.4 million dollars from Colombia at the same time.
But the commercial relationship between Colombia and Guatemala goes beyond exports. In this country They have several national companies such as Bancolombia, Grupo Energía Bogotá (EEBIS and Conecta), EPM (EEGSA and TRELEC), Grupo Argos (Argos Guatemala), Quala, Colombina and Vélez.
