Manufacturing production in Colombia fell 1.3 percent year-on-year in April 2019, following a 3.2 percent gain in the previous month and well below market expectations of a 2.7 percent rise. It was the biggest decline in factory output since September 2017. In April, 22 out of 39 manufacturing activities registered decreases, namely sugar (-35.8 percent); basic chemical substances (-12.7 percent); non-metallic minerals (-6.1 percent); textiles (-8.9 percent); other food products (-4.8 percent); oil & fats (-6.7 percent); soaps, detergents, perfumes & toilet preparations (-2.7 percent); footwear (-15.8 percent); wood products (-11.8 percent); oil refining & fuel blending (-0.8 percent); metal products (-2.1 percent) and electrical equipment (-2.6 percent). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, manufacturing output went down 0.1 percent, after an upwardly revised 1.8 percent rise in March. Industrial Production in Colombia averaged 2.26 percent from 1981 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 17.70 percent in March of 1998 and a record low of -22.70 percent in March of 1999.
Industrial Production in Colombia is expected to be 7.20 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Industrial Production in Colombia to stand at 4.50 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Colombia Industrial Output is projected to trend around 3.40 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.