The Colombian American Chamber of Commerce, AmCham Colombia, is holding the 'Colombia - Texas Business, Trade & Investment Week' from November 9 to 13, which aims to publicize business, tourism and investment opportunities between Colombia and the state of Texas (United States), as well as to create networking between businesspeople from both countries.
"A total of 215 companies, 68 from Texas and 147 from Colombia, are ready to enhance their commercial opportunities and immerse themselves in the technical, academic and cultural scenarios that will be developed during this virtual business week that we are conducting in alliance with the Office of the Governor of Texas," said AmCham Colombia's executive director, María Claudia Lacouture.
"Texas was the main destination for Colombian exports to the United States in 2019 and year-to-day is the second, so we consider this business scenario to be of great importance in promoting trade between both countries”, she said.
"Thanks to our unmatched business climate, world-class infrastructure, and skilled and diverse workforce, Texas continues to attract expanding and relocating companies from around the world. With Colombia as a top trading partner, Texas has remained the top exporter in the U.S. for the past 18 years, and continues to attract more foreign-direct investment than any other state. We are proud to partner with AmCham Colombia on this event as we expand upon the already strong economic and cultural ties between Texas and Colombia”, said Adriana Cruz, Executive Director of the Economic Development & Tourism Office at Texas Governor’s Office.
Companies from all sectors will participate in the event, however, it will have an emphasis on the tourism, manufacturing, auto parts, services, technology, communications, health, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. On the first day of this event, the companies will have a general vision of the market in which they will learn about the business climate in the sectors and industries with the greatest opportunities between Colombia and Texas.
“Colombia is proud to have strong trade and investment ties with the Lone Star State,” said Colombian Ambassador to the United States Francisco Santos. “Highlighting all the ways we can deepen and widen the close collaboration with our Texan friends this week gives me great pleasure. We look forward to opening the door more widely to two-way trade and investment opportunities.”
On the second day, there will be virtual tours of production, distribution and packaging centers in the industries with the greatest business potential. The third day will be focused on the investment ecosystem and large scale projects. It will also include a business roundtable and networking event on day four, during which participating Colombian and Texas companies can meet one-on-one with business prospects.
To close the event, the current situation of tourism in Texas will be addressed and the entrepreneurs will participate in a virtual tourism experience in our country and that U.S. state.
Texas, a market of opportunities
According to an analysis by AmCham Colombia, some of the Colombian goods with the greatest opportunity for export to Texas are varieties of coffee, different types of oils, organic chemicals and iron or steel products.
When analyzing Colombia's exports to the state of Texas, there was a 23.7% growth between 2018 and 2019, from US$2,655 million to US$3,284 million, according to information from the US Census Bureu.
As for the products exported by Colombia to Texas in 2019, the top five were: crude oil or bituminous mineral, unroasted and non-caffeinated coffee; elbows, bends and sleeves, cast iron or steel threads; and light oils and preparations.
Likewise, two of the Colombian products exported to Texas that showed a better performance in 2019 were paintings and drawings, which grew 23,338.9%, and the other petroleum oils or bituminous minerals that had a growth of 276.5%.
This year, the Colombian exports to Texas that have had the greatest growth between January and August are: electrical conductors with a voltage lower than 1,000 V, which grew 134.9%; the other bottles, jars, mouthpieces for transporting or packaging glass (112.7%); and decaffeinated unroasted coffee (55.6%).
On the other hand, in 2019 Texas ranked second in imports among the states of the United States. In this sense, 99.8% of non-plasticized cellulose acetate that arrived to Texas was Colombian, becoming the leading product last year.
In this regard, the director of AmCham Colombia pointed out that "the United States is a market of more than 320 million consumers and Texas is one of the states where Colombia's non-mining energy exports have the possibility of shining, so it is key for businesspeople to know about the commercial opportunities it offers so they can take advantage of them," she said.