Azerbaijan Import Trade Data: $17.3B in 2023, Up 18.9%

Azerbaijan's Top Import Sources in 2023

Azerbaijan imported $17.28 billion worth of goods in 2023, the latest year with verified trade data in this dataset. That total marks an increase of 18.9% over the $14.54 billion recorded in 2022, a third consecutive year of growth. Russia was the largest source of Azerbaijan's imports, supplying 18.3% of the total, worth $3.16 billion.

China ranked a close second at 17.5% ($3.02 billion), ahead of Turkey at 13.3% ($2.29 billion). Germany took fourth place at 5.3% ($910.36 million), followed by the United States at 5.1% ($889.00 million) and Turkmenistan at 4.0% ($687.31 million). Italy supplied 2.8% ($477.79 million), Iran added 2.7% ($473.08 million), and Japan and South Korea were nearly tied to round out the top ten, at 2.5% each, worth $435.29 million and $428.09 million. Together, the top three sources made up 49.0% of total import value.

Russia and China are separated by less than a single percentage point, a notably close race for the top spot rather than one partner pulling decisively ahead. That near-tie points to Azerbaijan drawing on two very different supply relationships in similar volume: Russia as a historically close regional trading partner, and China as a growing source of manufactured goods.

Three of Azerbaijan's top ten import sources, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, and Iran, are countries it borders directly or shares close regional ties with through the Caspian and South Caucasus region, together supplying close to a fifth of total import value. The remaining partners, Germany, the USA, Italy, Japan, and South Korea, represent longer-distance relationships in machinery, technology, and manufactured goods, giving Azerbaijan's supplier base a mix of regional and global sourcing rather than leaning entirely on nearby economies. Japan and South Korea rounding out the list, worth $435.29 million and $428.09 million respectively, adds an East Asian manufacturing dimension to the supplier base as well, distinct from both the regional cluster and the Western economies represented by Germany, Italy, and the USA.

Leading Import Categories

Vehicles and related parts and accessories led all import categories in 2023, worth $2.07 billion and accounting for 12.0% of total import value. Mineral fuels, mineral oils, and related distillation products followed closely at 11.5%, worth $1.99 billion, and machinery and mechanical appliances ranked third at 11.1% ($1.91 billion).

Electrical machinery and equipment added 9.0% ($1.55 billion), while commodities not specified according to kind contributed 3.8% ($660.78 million). Iron or steel articles brought in 3.7% ($636.67 million), and pharmaceutical products added 3.2% ($560.84 million). Plastics contributed 3.0% ($523.42 million), iron and steel added 2.7% ($463.80 million), and cereals closed out the top ten at 2.3% ($390.17 million).

Mineral fuels ranking second among import categories, worth $1.99 billion, is a striking detail given that the same product category dominates Azerbaijan's export profile by an overwhelming margin. That pattern typically reflects a gap between crude production and domestic refining capacity: a country can export large volumes of crude oil and natural gas while still needing to import refined fuel products, lubricants, or other specific petroleum derivatives that its own refineries do not fully supply. Rather than signaling weakness in the energy sector, this two-way flow is a common feature of oil and gas producing economies whose refining infrastructure is specialized around crude export rather than covering the full range of finished petroleum products domestic consumers and industries need.

The top four categories, vehicles, mineral fuels, machinery, and electrical equipment, together account for more than four-tenths of total import value, pointing to an economy still building out transportation infrastructure, energy processing, and industrial capacity through imported equipment. Cereals appearing in the top ten, worth $390.17 million, signals a degree of food import dependence as well, rounding out a category mix that spans heavy equipment, energy products, and basic food staples. The gap between the top four categories and the bottom six is fairly gradual, with none of the remaining categories falling below 2.2% of the total. Iron and steel appearing twice on the list, both as raw material and as finished articles, together worth just over $1.1 billion, points to meaningful demand for both basic metal stock and manufactured metal goods within the same construction and industrial supply chain.

A Third Consecutive Year of Import Growth

The five-year trend shows imports dipping in 2020 before recovering and climbing steadily. Imports moved from $13.65 billion in 2019 to $10.73 billion in 2020, then recovered to $11.70 billion in 2021, climbed further to $14.54 billion in 2022, and reached $17.28 billion in 2023. That pattern points to three consecutive years of growth since the 2020 low, with the 2023 total now well above the 2019 starting point.

This pattern is consistent with the World Bank's WITS trade summary for Azerbaijan, which confirms Russia's leading role among the country's import sources alongside the broader import totals recorded for 2023. For a closer look at how individual partner countries or product categories break down year over year, the data panels above provide the full detail behind these figures.