Browse Data and Analysis

With a gross domestic product of $548.6 billion and projected growth of 3.7 percent in 2025, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ranks as the second-largest economy in the Arab world, with substantial consumer spending driven by high per capita income.

This report provides food and beverage exporters guidance on how to enter the Colombian market. In 2024 the United States exported $4.5 billion in agricultural products to Colombia, making it the 6th largest agricultural export market for the United States.

The UAE's food processing sector is thriving, driven by robust economic growth and domestic consumption. The more than 570 predominantly small and medium-sized food and beverage processors cater primarily to local demand, while also aiming to meet regional and global needs.

The 2024 U.S. Agricultural Export Yearbook provides a statistical summary of U.S. agricultural commodity exports to the world during the 2024 calendar year.

Colombia has launched a new electronic platform for registering foods and beverages for human consumption. The system, InvimAgil, will be phased in under the coming months; currently, the use of the system is not mandatory.

In Marketing Year (MY) 2025/2026, Colombian coffee production is forecast to decrease 5.3 percent to 12.5 million bags green bean equivalent (GBE), mainly as a result of heavy rains.

Continuing economic growth; increasing tourism; a healthy hotel, restaurant, and institutional sector; and a growing population will lead the UAE’s wheat and rice consumption to grow in the 2025-2026 marketing year (MY).

In market year (MY) 2025/2026, FAS Bogota (Post) forecasts Colombia’s sugar production to recover to 2.3 million metric tons (MMT) due to improved weather conditions from the weakening of the La Niña phenomenon and expected normal weather patterns, positively impacting sugarcane yields and sucrose content.

On March 5, 2025, Colombia's National Institute for the Surveillance of Food and Medicines (INVIMA) confirmed that starch is approved by the Colombian government as an additive for use as a thickener and stabilizer agent in fresh cheese.

The United States remains the top international supplier to Colombia's food ingredients sector.

Anyone exporting food or feed products to Colombia should note that since March 2025, Colombian quarantine officials have stopped allowing updates to many details on import permits and are no longer allowing any changes after the products have left port.

Colombia’s economic recovery together with growing domestic livestock and poultry production are driving Colombia’s corn demand. With the rapid development of poultry and egg production in particular, corn consumption is projected to increase in market year (MY) 2025/2026 to support strengthening demand from the animal feed sector.