The Colombian Federation of Cattlemen (Fedegán) welcomes the recent announcement by President Gustavo Petro Urrego to begin the review of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States after more than a decade of entry into force. In a letter addressed to the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Germán Umaña Mendoza, the top Colombian livestock union made itself available to that portfolio for any technical or economic analysis it may require on the matter.
According to the union, within the framework of this FTA, the benefits for the Colombian livestock sector have not been as expected. In the letter, José Félix Lafaurie Rivera, executive president of Fedegán recalled that until 2010 the country’s trade balance in milk and dairy products was positive. Already in 2011 the impact of the FTA with Mercosur was beginning to be noticed, but for the time this wave was relatively bearable knowing that the countries of South America are similarly exposed to various variables that affect the production and marketing of milk, their competitiveness and the insertion in international markets.
“The turning point would be 2012 with the entry into force of the FTA with the US starting in May. Since then, the imported volumes originating from that country have been highly growing, without ignoring that in 2013 the FTA with the European Union added to this already high amount”, added the senior executive.
In addition, he revealed that in 2022 “our dairy trade balance was in deficit by USD 266 million, the same as in the first half of 2023 where it registered a deficit of USD 131 million. The situation in the short term may be even more sensitive for the Colombian livestock sector, knowing that the international price of powdered milk is constantly declining and that the current exchange rate favors dairy imports.”
In addition, it went further by alerting Minister Umaña and the National Government about the critical situation that will arise in the sector as of January 1, 2026 due to the fact that there will be free trade in powdered milk within the framework of the FTA with the United States. “This will undoubtedly put great downward pressure on the price paid to the Colombian producer, who obviously must produce with unequal standards compared to how a milkman does in the US,” he warned.
