Central African Rep. Imports: $742.45M in 2023, Up 19.1%

China Edges Out Neighboring Cameroon as Top Supplier

The Central African Republic imported $742.45 million worth of goods in 2023, up 19.1% from $623.38 million the year before. China supplied 17.0% of that total, worth $125.98 million, narrowly ahead of neighboring Cameroon at 15.5% ($114.99 million). Cameroon's outsized position on this list has less to do with goods manufactured in Cameroon itself and more to do with geography: infrastructure reporting on the region describes the Douala-Bangui corridor, stretching more than 1,400 kilometers, as a critical lifeline for the landlocked Central African Republic that carries more than 80% of the country's external trade, since it has no coastline or port of its own. Much of what shows up as imports from Cameroon in the trade data likely reflects goods that originated elsewhere and were consolidated or transshipped through the port of Douala before making that overland journey. Trade officials in the region have described the corridor as economically vital not just to the Central African Republic but to Cameroon itself, since the transit trade generates substantial customs revenue and business activity along the route, which is part of why both governments have pushed infrastructure and security upgrades to keep it functioning despite periodic disruptions from armed groups operating in the border region.

France ranked third at 11.2% ($83.05 million), a continuation of colonial-era trade ties, and together China, Cameroon, and France, the top three suppliers, account for 43.6% of total import value, a far less concentrated spread than the 82.2% seen among the country's export buyers. Côte d’Ivoire added 6.4% ($47.81 million), Japan 5.1% ($37.57 million), India 4.3% ($32.00 million), United States 4.0% ($29.79 million), and the United Arab Emirates 3.3% ($24.59 million), a smaller but notable reverse flow given how dominant the UAE is among the country's export buyers. Congo - Kinshasa added 2.8% ($20.66 million), and Belgium rounded out the top ten at 2.5% ($18.35 million).

Vehicles and Fuel Lead a Landlocked Import Bill

Vehicles led all import categories in 2023, worth $148.60 million and accounting for 20.0% of total value, likely a mix of new and used cars and trucks arriving via the same overland route from Douala. Mineral fuels ranked second at 13.5% ($100.15 million), unsurprising for a country with no domestic refining or oil production of its own, meaning every liter of fuel used has to travel the same long overland corridor as everything else. Machinery and mechanical appliances followed at 9.1% ($67.41 million), electrical machinery at 7.9% ($58.41 million), and pharmaceutical products at 6.5% ($48.18 million), a category that matters more than its dollar value alone suggests given the country's ongoing public health needs and its reliance on international aid organizations to help supply hospitals and clinics outside the capital.

Iron and steel articles added 3.8% ($28.00 million), and the rest of the list leans toward food and basic goods: miscellaneous edible preparations contributed 2.7% ($20.10 million), meat and edible offal a nearly identical 2.7% ($19.99 million), plastics 2.4% ($17.53 million), and cereals rounded out the top ten at 2.2% ($16.55 million). That mix of imported staples alongside vehicles and machinery reflects an economy that, despite a large agricultural sector, still relies on imports for a meaningful share of its food supply and nearly all of its manufactured goods.

A Sharp Rebound After Years of Decline

The Central African Republic's import total followed a different path than most economies over the past five years. It stood at $567.83 million in 2019, dipped only slightly to $544.92 million in 2020, then kept falling to $485.05 million in 2021, the low point of the five-year span, rather than crashing sharply in a single pandemic year the way many countries did. Imports then rebounded strongly, climbing to $623.38 million in 2022 and $742.45 million in 2023, up 19.1% year over year and well above the 2019 starting point.

That gradual three-year decline followed by a sharp two-year rebound is a different shape than the sudden pandemic-era collapse and recovery seen in most other countries in this dataset, suggesting that domestic conditions within the Central African Republic, a country that has dealt with recurring conflict and instability well beyond the pandemic period, weighed on import demand for longer than the global disruption alone would explain, before a period of relative stabilization and stronger growth took hold more recently. 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.