Colombia’s palm oil sector closed the first quarter of 2026 with 223,000 metric tons sold to international buyers, a 44% rise compared to the same period of 2025, while domestic sales held flat, confirming a structural shift that Fedepalma (Federación Nacional de Cultivadores de Palma de Aceite, the sector’s national federation) had been tracking across several consecutive quarters: export-led growth now sets the pace for an industry that for decades depended primarily on the local market.
The production figure reinforces that picture with a different cadence: Colombia produced 560,000 metric tons of palm oil between January and March 2026, a 3% gain over Q1 2025, with March alone contributing 200,000 metric tons and the Central Zone posting the quarter’s strongest regional performance at over 11% growth compared to the same period of the previous year, which means production grew at roughly one-seventh the rate of exports, a gap that defines where sector value now concentrates.
A 44% export surge and the month that drove it
March delivered the decisive number: Colombia exported 97,000 metric tons of palm oil in that single month, more than the combined export volumes of January and February, and that late-quarter acceleration pushed the full Q1 total to 223,000 tons, a volume that Fedepalma confirmed as the primary engine of sectoral growth in the opening months of 2026, compensating directly for the domestic market’s absence of meaningful expansion.
Those figures show how Colombia’s palm oil sector increasingly depends on international price signals, trade route availability, and buyer demand from markets outside the country rather than on domestic food, biofuel, or industrial consumption, and that dependence gives the Q1 result a meaning beyond the headline percentage: export-led growth at this scale requires sustained access to international markets, not just strong quarterly production.
The Central Zone’s 11% production gain reinforced the regional geography of that export momentum, as Colombia’s palm belt, which runs across departments including Meta, Casanare, Norte de Santander, and Magdalena, continues to expand its planted area and refine its agronomic practices, giving the country a production base that can absorb international demand surges without immediately straining supply capacity.
Sector palmero arranca el año con producción al alza y mejores condiciones agronómicas
— Portafolio (@Portafolioco) April 7, 2026
Exportaciones de aceite de palma crecen 48% y consolidan a Colombia en mercados internacionales.
Detalles ⬇️https://t.co/RFgG1BtBVL
Colombia’s global position and the EUDR pressure
Colombia holds the title of Latin America’s largest palm oil producer and ranks fourth globally, behind Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, with palm and kernel oils accounting for 94.1% of all oils and fats produced nationally, a concentration that makes the sector’s export performance inseparable from the country’s broader agricultural trade balance and rural employment base.
That position now comes with a compliance layer that did not exist at the same intensity five years ago: the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) requires palm oil entering European Union markets to carry documented proof that its supply chain does not contribute to deforestation, and Colombian exporters who move product into European channels must build traceability systems down to the plantation level, a cost that large producers absorb more readily than small and medium growers, who represent roughly 75% of Colombia’s palm cultivation base.
The SAF Market and the 2028 Production Target
Meanwhile, Fedepalma’s longer-range projection points to a different market entirely: if the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) market, which uses palm oil as one of several biomass feedstocks, proves commercially viable at the margins needed, Colombia could raise production to 2.5 million metric tons per year by 2028, a 40% jump from the approximately 1.8 million tons Colombia produced annually in 2023 and a volume that would require new planted area, processing capacity, and logistics investment starting well before 2028 to meet the deadline.
Colombia’s palm oil industry just posted a 44% surge in quarterly exports, a striking gain for a sector that makes up only about 7% of the nation’s GDP but stands out as one of its few globally competitive commodities. The challenge now is whether producers can keep that pace through the expected global supply squeeze from April to September 2026, while meeting the deforestation-free standards that top markets increasingly demand.