Israel’s top coal supplier Colombia to suspend exports over Gaza war
- Relations have soured between Colombia and Israel, which were once close military and commercial allies, over the war in Gaza
Petro wrote on the social media platform X on Saturday that coal exports would only resume with the end of “the genocide” in Gaza. Petro also posted a draft decree saying that coal exports would only resume if Israel were to comply with a recent order by the International Court of Justice that said Israel should withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip.
According to Colombia’s National Statistics Department, coal exports to Israel were worth more than US$320 million in the first eight months of last year. That is a small fraction of the nation’s overall coal exports, which were worth more than US$9 billion in 2023.
Israel imports more than 50 per cent of its coal from Colombia, according to the American Journal for Transportation, and uses much of it to feed its power plants.
Both governments have continued to keep consulates in each other’s territories and conduct trade.