According to DANE, mining and quarrying continues to be the activity that led to the decline in the sector.

In August, the Industrial Production Index (IPI) showed a variation of -1.9%, compared to the figure for the same month in 2023, according to the most recent report from the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE).

This indicator, according to DANE, measures the real production of the industrial sector on a monthly basis, hence the IPI is a window to know the situation of the Colombian industry in its three main sectors: manufacturing; mining and quarrying; water collection, treatment and distribution, and electricity and gas supply.

By sectors

According to the entity, the sectors that showed negative variations were: manufacturing industry with a variation of 1.8%; mining and quarrying (4.6%) and water collection, treatment and distribution (1.3%). In contrast, the sector that showed positive variation was electricity and gas supply (1.1%).

In addition, of the 26 industrial activities, 20 showed negative variations, subtracting 2.8 percentage points from the annual variation, and 6 activities showed positive variations, adding 0.8 percentage points to the annual variation.

The outlook for 2024

Between January and August 2024, compared to the same period last year, the Industrial Production Index showed a variation of -1.6%. During this time, two of the four sectors registered negative variations: the manufacturing industry sector (2.8%) and mining and quarrying (1.7%). On the other hand, the sectors that showed positive variations were: water collection, treatment and distribution (0.5%) and electricity and gas supply (3.7%).

“In the period January – August 2024 compared to the period January – August 2023, of the 26 industrial activities, 15 registered negative variations, subtracting 2.7 percentage points, and 11 activities presented positive variations, adding 1.0 percentage points to the year-to-date variation,” the entity said.