Why is Colombia the Ideal Destination for Nearshoring?
Nearshoring has become a key strategy for international companies seeking to optimize their supply chains, reduce costs and improve operational efficiency. In this context, Colombia stands out as a prime destination for relocating operations, thanks to its strategic location, competitive costs, and highly skilled workforce.
Discover these and other factors why Colombia has become a leading hub for nearshoring in Latin America, offering significant advantages to investors worldwide and giving access to international markets to global companies.
What is Nearshoring?
Before diving into Colombia’s strengths, it is important to understand what nearshoring entails. This business model involves companies relocating part of their operations to nearby countries rather than choosing distant locations for global connectivity and corporate development. For example, a company may establish part of its production in Colombia to efficiently serve markets across the Americas.
This reduces delivery times, minimizes logistical risks and improves communication with headquarters. For many North American and European companies, Colombia represents an exceptional opportunity an outstanding opportunity for nearshoring due to its logistics solutions, and geographical and trade advantages.
Why Should You Choose Colombia?
There are hundreds of destinations in the world for this practice, so you may be wondering why choose Colombia among so many other countries for your international expansion. Here are some key reasons that make the country of beauty stand out among other options.
1. Colombia’s Trade Agreements
Colombia maintains healthy and stable trade relations with destinations across the globe. Currently, the country has 18 trade agreements in force, which gives it access to more than 1.5 billion consumers worldwide. Among these agreements are the FTA with the United States, trade agreements with the European Union and the participation in organizations such as the Pacific Alliance and the Andean Community.
These agreements offer preferential tariff treatment for goods exported from Colombia, reducing costs and providing logistical advantages for businesses that choose to carry out nearshoring in the country.
2. Colombia's Strategic Geographical Location
Colombia is strategically located in the heart of the Americas. This allows goods to reach other destinations in competitive timeframes.
Additionally, the country shares time zones with key economies such as the United States, Canada, Brazil and Mexico, facilitating the operations of international companies that operate in those countries or have them as a business target.
3. The Country's Export Infrastructure
Colombia has developed a strong export infrastructure to support international trade and the internationalization of companies. The country boasts:
- 3,500 maritime export routes, connected to 750 ports in over 140 countries.
- 2,400 air export routes, operated by 30 airlines with access to more than 500 cities.
- Major logistics hubs, including El Dorado International Airport and the Port of Cartagena, are both recognized for their cargo-handling capacity and extensive global connections.
4. Highly Skilled Workforce
Colombia has a young and qualified workforce, with an increasing number of professionals in technology, manufacturing, engineering and business services, trained in universities that stands out in international rankings at both regional and global academic standings.
Moreover, the country has strengthened its bilingual education, allowing more and more workers to master English, French and Portuguese, among other languages, and facilitating integration with foreign companies, which can be a challenge in other nearshoring destinations where multilingual skills are less common.
5. Competitive Operating Costs
Compared to other nearshoring destinations, Colombia offers significantly lower operating costs. This translates into more affordable wages, rental prices, and input costs—without compromising quality or efficiency. The combination of cost-effectiveness and specialized labor makes Colombia an attractive option for companies looking to optimize their budgets.
6. Colombia has a strong network of free trade zones
Colombia’s free trade zones provide numerous benefits to companies relocating operations. Some key advantages include:
- The companies located in the Colombian free trade zones have a single income tax rate of 20%, obtaining competitive costs.
- In these zones there are no customs duties (VAT and tariffs) to be paid on the goods that are introduced there, which allows the necessary supply for the operation of the businesses.
- Companies have the possibility of exporting their goods from the free trade zone to other countries or trading them in a national market with more than 50 million consumers.
- The goods of foreign origin introduced to the free trade zone may remain in them indefinitely, which offers greater flexibility to companies when operating in the country.
- The companies located in the free trade zones have VAT exemption for raw materials, parts, inputs and finished goods sold from the national customs territory to industrial users of goods or services of Free Trade Zone.
Colombia consolidates its position as an export platform
Colombia’s combination of strategic location, trade agreements, world-class infrastructure, and skilled workforce has positioned it as a thriving export platform. The country’s business ecosystem is designed to support international companies seeking efficient access to global markets.
By choosing Colombia for nearshoring, companies can unlock a range of advantages, from cost savings to logistical efficiency. Explore the opportunities Colombia has to offer and learn more about investment diversification in this dynamic and rapidly growing market here.
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