COLOMBIA – Colombian imports of European machinery for the transformation of panels reached USD 9.2 million in 2018. This figure represented an increase of 57.7 percent compared to USD 5.9 million registered in 2017.

The leading supplier for the third consecutive year was the Homag Group. In 2018 the German manufacturer shipped to the Colombian market panel processing machinery for USD 3.6 million, a strong increase of 114.7 percent when compared to the figure of USD 1.6 million reached in 2017.

The Italian SCM Group was the second largest supplier of woodworking machinery for in the important Colombian market with USD 1.9 million. SCM was also the supplier with the highest growth, 322.9 percent, against the USD 457 thousand reached in 2017.

The also Italian Putsch Meniconi was the third supplier company with USD 933 thousand in 2018 (2017: USD 808 thousand), marginally surpassing the Biesse Group, which was the fourth supplier of machinery for the Colombian market with USD 926 thousand in 2018 (2017: USD 891 thousand).

Among the main suppliers, stands out the 131.2 percent growth achieved by edgebander manufacturer Fravol, which reached USD 322 thousand in 2018 (2017: USD 139 thousand).

The biggest drop (-54.4 percent) was for the Austrian machinery manufacturer Holzher, which is part of the Weinig Group. Holzher went from selling USD 418 thousand in 2017 to only USD 191 thousand in 2018.

For 2019 the expectations are positive since a new tax break came into force that allows importing companies to discount the 19% VAT on imports of capital goods from their income tax.