Colombia's state council to review decree banning coal exports to Israel

Colombia's state council will review a decree issued by President Gustavo Petro to ban coal exports to Israel and determine its legal validity.

Announcing that the council accepted the legal measure against the decree, senator Miguel Uribe, of right-wing Democratic Center party, said in a video on social network X that "we even hope that the precautionary measures will be approved so that the harmful effects of this decree are suspended immediately." 

Petro signed the decree on August 14 amid the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Coal producers association Fenalcarbón said the ban means the country loses US$470 million on average per year. It also affects US$154mn in taxes, royalties and economic compensation across several departments, especially La Guajira and Cesar, which are the main producers of thermal coal for export to Israel.

A bilateral free trade agreement has been in force since 2020, which establishes that no prohibitions or restrictions on the import or export of goods from any of the countries can be adopted or maintained.

Various sectors claim the government decree also violates constitutional and legal norms of free competition.

Coal producers said the export ban undermines more than three decades of efforts to open up the Israeli market. In 1990, Colombia exported 600,000t, which had grown to 3Mt in 2023.

Cerrejón and Drummond are the main coal exporting companies.