Cabo Verde Imports: $1.76B in 2023, Down 0.8% From 2022

Where Cabo Verde's Imports Come From

Cabo Verde brought in $1.76 billion worth of goods in 2023, essentially flat against the $1.77 billion recorded the year before, a decline of 0.8%. Portugal supplies far more than any other partner, accounting for 30.4% of the total, worth $534.94 million. That single relationship is worth more than the next three suppliers combined, a legacy of the two countries' shared language and centuries of colonial-era ties that still shape shipping routes and business relationships across the islands today.

Saudi Arabia holds the second spot at 11.5% of imports, worth $201.95 million, followed by Spain at 8.3% ($146.40 million) and Netherlands at almost the same share, also 8.3% ($145.12 million). France rounds out the top five at 6.3% ($110.03 million). Together, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, and Spain, the top three suppliers, account for 50.2% of everything Cabo Verde imports, meaning half of the country's purchases from abroad flow through just three trading relationships.

Farther down the list, China supplied 5.5% ($96.89 million), the United Arab Emirates 4.2% ($74.43 million), and the United States 4.0% ($69.59 million). India and Brazil closed out the top ten at 3.0% ($53.23 million) and 2.6% ($45.42 million) respectively, both far behind the concentrated group at the top of the list. The Netherlands' presence in the top four is notable for a country of Cabo Verde's size, and likely reflects Rotterdam's role as one of Europe's largest re-export and trans-shipment hubs, where goods produced elsewhere are consolidated onto vessels bound for smaller markets like the Cabo Verde archipelago rather than shipped directly from their country of manufacture.

Fuel Dominates What Cabo Verde Buys From Abroad

Mineral fuels, oils, and related distillation products dominate Cabo Verde's import bill, accounting for 46.7% of total value in 2023, worth $821.58 million. No other category comes close: machinery and mechanical appliances rank a distant second at 3.5% ($60.92 million), followed by vehicles at 3.4% ($59.33 million) and aircraft and spacecraft parts at 2.9% ($50.19 million). The scale of that fuel dependence is not surprising for a mid-Atlantic archipelago with no oil wells or refineries of its own, so every liter of gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel used on the islands has to arrive by tanker. U.S. trade officials note that imported petroleum products make up roughly 80% of Cabo Verde's total energy supply, with wind and solar covering most of the remainder. Saudi Arabia's position as the second-largest supplier fits this picture, since fuel cargoes tend to arrive in large, irregular tanker shipments rather than a steady stream of smaller deliveries, which can make a single supplier's share swing sharply from one year to the next depending on how many cargoes land within the reporting period.

That fuel dependence runs in both directions. Cabo Verde's own exports are dominated by bunker fuel resold to ships passing through Mindelo's harbor, a historic mid-Atlantic refueling stop, meaning a meaningful share of the mineral fuels flowing into the country cycles back out again rather than being consumed entirely at home. Beyond energy, the import list turns toward food security and infrastructure. Cereals rank fifth at 2.8% ($48.50 million), reflecting reliance on imported staples for a nation with limited arable land, and dairy products add another 2.4% ($41.82 million). Electrical machinery (2.6%, $46.02 million), railway and tramway equipment (2.1%, $36.26 million), construction materials such as salt, stone, and cement (2.0%, $35.27 million), and plastics (1.8%, $32.36 million) round out the top ten categories.

A Fuel-Driven, Concentrated Supply Chain

Cabo Verde's total import bill has moved unevenly over the past five years. It stood at $1.39 billion in 2019, fell to $1.13 billion in 2020, climbed back to $1.28 billion in 2021, then jumped sharply to $1.77 billion in 2022 before holding almost steady at $1.76 billion in 2023. The dip in 2020 coincided with the global disruption to shipping and trade during the pandemic, and the subsequent climb tracks a broader recovery in fuel and commodity prices worldwide. The jump between 2021 and 2022 in particular lines up with the period when global oil and fuel prices spiked well above pre-pandemic levels, a shift that would have pushed up the cost of Cabo Verde's fuel-heavy import bill even if the physical volume of goods coming into the country stayed roughly the same. That the 2023 total held almost level with 2022 rather than falling back suggests the higher import bill has, at least for now, persisted rather than proving a one-year spike.

The same concentration that shapes the partner list, with Portugal, Saudi Arabia, and Spain together accounting for half of all imports, and mineral fuels alone making up nearly half of import value, describes an economy with limited room to diversify either its supply chain or its energy mix without deliberate policy effort. 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.