Bolivia Import Trade Data: $11.49B in 2023, Down 12.0%

China Edges Out Brazil as Bolivia's Top Supplier

Bolivia imported $11.49 billion worth of goods in 2023, the latest year with verified trade data in this dataset. That total marks a decline of 12.0% from the $13.05 billion recorded in 2022, easing from the highest annual figure in the five-year span this dataset covers. China was the largest supplier, providing 20.8% of the total, worth $2.39 billion.

Brazil ranked second at 16.7% ($1.91 billion), ahead of Argentina at 9.4% ($1.09 billion) and Chile at 8.8% ($1.02 billion). United States took fifth place at 6.8% ($781.70 million), followed by Peru at 6.4% ($738.12 million) and Paraguay at 2.8% ($322.02 million). Japan took eighth place at 2.4% ($274.76 million), Mexico added 2.2% ($255.41 million), and Switzerland rounded out the top ten at 2.0% ($225.78 million). Together, the top three suppliers made up 47.0% of total import value.

Like the export side, Bolivia's import base is spread across a wide set of countries rather than concentrated in one dominant relationship. China's leading position reflects a global pattern of rising Chinese manufactured goods, machinery, and electronics in Latin American import baskets over the past decade. Brazil and Argentina's presence in the top three lines up with the same overland trade corridors that carry Bolivian natural gas in the opposite direction, while Chile and Peru's showing reflects Bolivia's landlocked geography, with both countries hosting the Pacific ports Bolivia depends on for much of its seaborne trade. The USA, Paraguay, Japan, Mexico, and Switzerland close out a top ten spanning manufacturing, pharmaceutical, and specialty goods suppliers from four continents. Switzerland's presence in tenth place is notable for a small European economy with no shared border or major trade agreement with Bolivia, likely reflecting specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals, or precision instruments rather than bulk commodity trade.

Fuel Imports Lead Despite Bolivia's Gas Exports

Mineral fuels, mineral oils and related distillation products led all import categories in 2023, worth $3.03 billion and accounting for 26.4% of total import value, more than double the next largest category. Machinery and mechanical appliances, boilers and nuclear reactors followed at 11.9% ($1.36 billion), and vehicles other than railway or tramway rolling stock ranked third at 10.6% ($1.21 billion).

Electrical machinery and equipment added 5.2% ($592.77 million), while plastics and articles thereof contributed 4.8% ($549.22 million). Iron and steel brought in 3.7% ($428.13 million), and chemical products not elsewhere classified added 3.5% ($405.75 million). Pharmaceutical products contributed 2.1% ($246.06 million), iron or steel articles added 2.0% ($232.64 million), and rubber and articles thereof closed out the top ten at 2.0% ($225.19 million).

Fuel's dominant position here stands in contrast to Bolivia's export profile, where mineral fuels also rank among the top categories, this time as an export earner rather than an import cost. That is not really a contradiction. CEIC Data has documented how declining Bolivian natural gas production has cut into the export revenue that once funded imports, even as the country still has to bring in the refined gasoline and diesel it lacks the domestic refining capacity to produce itself. Machinery and vehicles further down the list point to ongoing demand for transport and industrial equipment, while iron, steel, and plastics reflect inputs feeding into Bolivia's construction and manufacturing sectors. Pharmaceutical products round out a list that otherwise leans heavily toward energy, transport, and industrial inputs rather than consumer goods, a pattern consistent with a landlocked economy that has to import most of the manufactured and finished goods it does not produce domestically.

A Five-Year Climb, Then a Pullback

Bolivia's imports followed a mostly upward path over the past five years, interrupted by a pandemic-era dip. Imports fell from $9.82 billion in 2019 to $7.12 billion in 2020, likely reflecting disrupted shipping and softer demand during the early stages of the global pandemic, then climbed for two straight years to $9.62 billion in 2021 and further to a five-year high of $13.05 billion in 2022, before declining 12.0% to $11.49 billion in 2023.

Even with the 2023 pullback, the current total remains well above every year before 2022, leaving the broader five-year trajectory sharply higher than where it started despite the recent decline. 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.