Recently, the Colombian Financial News pointed out that Colombia has the problem of high prices and under-reporting of imported textiles, which has severely hit several large manufacturers of textile raw materials imported in accordance with the law in the country. Colombian Customs will investigate this matter.
From January to February 2013, 43% of Colombia’s imported textiles came from mainland China, 17% from the United States, 14% from India, and 5% from Indonesia and other countries. The country imports about US$1.17 billion in textiles from mainland China every year, but the figure registered with the customs is only US$300 million. This means that only 25% of the country’s imported textiles are declared normally, and the remaining 75% of products are severely underreported.
Manufacturers operating in accordance with the law in Colombia said that due to high prices and underreporting, the prices of some imported garments are even lower than the prices of raw materials such as cloth or yarn. According to customs statistics, the average CIF price of fabrics imported at the country’s ports is US$6.67/kg, while the average CIF price of 58% of imported garments is only US$7/kg, and some imported garments have a declared CIF price of US$1.6 /kg, far lower than the price of imported cotton.
Colombia’s textile practitioners asked the country’s government to investigate the matter strictly.
