Colombia: U.S. Rice Exports to Colombia Decline
In 2016, U.S. rice exports to Colombia are 66.1 percent lower than the previous year. This is due to a strong U.S. dollar, larger Colombian domestic production, and increased competition from Mercosur and other cheaper markets. Colombia has gone from the 4th largest market for U.S. rice exports in 2015 to the 9th largest in 2016. Colombian rice imports vary in direct correlation to the quality and quantity of its domestic rice crop, which increased in 2016 thanks to high local prices and government incentives. In the first semester of 2016, Colombia imported rice for first time from Uruguay and Paraguay after granting phyto-sanitary access to Mercosur countries at the end of 2015.
