Juan Carlos García’s experience
Juan Carlos Garcia is a professional in International Trade with 20 years of experience working in each of the links of the supply logistics chain, from the location of products, production, import, storage and distribution of goods, MIT Group is a business group where each attached company offers the services of each of the links in the chain mentioned above.
In your experience, what are the advantages of exporting from Colombia?
Colombia is not an exporting country, however, it has competitive advantages when exporting to large countries such as Mexico and the United States due to its proximity and the import factor is a great advantage compared to countries in the region
In your experience, what are the advantages of importing to Colombia?
On the contrary, Colombia is a purely importing country, said that imported products are in high demand in the country that is the main advantage, also the transformation of local products depends on a large part of imported inputs that is another great advantage. An important advantage is the geographical location of the country that allows access from the east through Buenaventura and from the west through the Caribbean (Cartagena, Barranquilla, Santa Marta among others)
What has been your most successful case of importing to Colombia in terms of logistics?
15 years ago I had the opportunity to lead the first tender to supply computer parts for a government education plan called «Computadores para Educar». This logistics required the coordination of purchase, transportation, assembly and distribution of 150,000 desktop computers, which in terms 40 ”containers means approximately 200 containers in a period of 2 months.
In your experience, what are the three main mistakes people make when importing into Colombia?
1. Not knowing the Colombian customs regulations (procedures to nationalize, paperwork, licenses, bureaucracy in ports and airports)
2. Lack of knowledge of the requirements, permits, taxes that the product has to be free in the country.
3. Not taking into account the correct mode of transport (air or sea) of your product,
according to its final destination if it is the capital and / or alternate cities.
4. Ignorance of INCOTERMS (negotiation terms)
In your experience, what are the top three mistakes people make when exporting from Colombia?
1. Costing of the export factor given the type of transport.
2. Anti-narcotics procedures (very usual given the country risk)
3. Packaging, packaging and technical standards of the countries where the exports are going to enter.
4. Ignorance of INCOTERMS (negotiation terms)
As someone who is entering the Colombian market, is there something interesting that has caught your attention specifically in your sector?
If you were a foreigner, you would be in a great position since, as I mentioned, Colombia is a clearly importing country, so you can easily receive any type of good or service as long as you take into account the competition of its peers and prices are very important since the same way you receive products from all over the world and price becomes a determining factor.
Why would you recommend Europa Network?
It seems to me an important door to feed on the experiences of foreigners who have entered Colombia as well as to interact with companies like mine that can offer them to enter with advice and services that guarantee success in their operation.
