01Key Takeaways
- Chile imported $85.19 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 18.6% from $104.61 billion in 2022, the steepest year-over-year drop in the five-year period.
- China was the top supplier at 23.3% ($19.82 billion), narrowly ahead of the USA at 20.0% ($17.02 billion).
- Brazil and Argentina followed at 10.4% ($8.83 billion) and 6.5% ($5.53 billion); the top three suppliers made up 53.6% of import value.
- Mineral fuels led import categories at 20.8% ($17.68 billion), reflecting Chile's heavy reliance on imported energy despite its mining wealth.
025-Year Trend
| Year | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $69.9B | $59.2B | $92.2B | $104.6B | $85.2B |
03Top Import Markets (2023)
| Rank | Partner | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | $19.8B | 23.3% |
| 2 | United States | $17.0B | 20.0% |
| 3 | Brazil | $8.8B | 10.4% |
| 4 | Argentina | $5.5B | 6.5% |
| 5 | Germany | $2.8B | 3.3% |
| 6 | Japan | $2.5B | 2.9% |
| 7 | Areas, nes | $2.1B | 2.5% |
| 8 | Spain | $1.8B | 2.2% |
| 9 | Peru | $1.8B | 2.1% |
| 10 | Mexico | $1.7B | 2.0% |
04Top Import Categories (2023)
| Rank | Category | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mineral Fuels, Mineral Oils and Products of their Distillation; Bituminous Substances; Mineral Waxes | $17.7B | 20.8% |
| 2 | Nuclear Reactors, Boilers, Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Parts thereof | $10.4B | 12.2% |
| 3 | Electrical Machinery and Equipment and parts thereof; Sound Recorders and Reproducers, Television Image and Sound Recorders and Reproducers, and Parts and Accessories of such Articles | $8.5B | 10.0% |
| 4 | Vehicles other than Railway or Tramway Rolling-Stock, and parts and accessories thereof | $8.1B | 9.5% |
| 5 | Plastics and Articles thereof | $2.5B | 3.0% |
| 6 | Pharmaceutical Products | $2.2B | 2.6% |
| 7 | Meat and Edible Meat Offal | $2.0B | 2.3% |
| 8 | Optical, Photographic, Cinematographic, Measuring, Checking, Precision, Medical or Surgical Instruments and Apparatus; Parts and Accessories thereof | $1.7B | 2.0% |
| 9 | Articles of Iron or Steel | $1.7B | 2.0% |
| 10 | Inorganic Chemicals; Organic or Inorganic Compounds of Precious Metals, of Rare-Earth Metals, of Radioactive Elements or of Isotopes | $1.5B | 1.8% |
05Trade Partner Map
06Analysis
China and the USA Lead a Diverse Supplier List
Chile imported $85.19 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 18.6% from $104.61 billion the year before, the steepest year-over-year drop across the five years of data this dataset covers. China supplied 23.3% of that total, worth $19.82 billion, narrowly ahead of the United States at 20.0% ($17.02 billion). Unlike the export side, where a single Chinese relationship absorbs well over a third of value, Chile's supplier list on imports is spread more evenly across a handful of large economies, a pattern typical of a country that exports a narrow set of raw commodities but buys back a much broader mix of manufactured goods, machinery, and consumer products from wherever they are made most competitively.
Brazil ranked third at 10.4% ($8.83 billion), and Argentina followed at 6.5% ($5.53 billion). Together, China, the USA, and Brazil, the top three suppliers, account for 53.6% of total import value. Germany added 3.3% ($2.81 billion), Japan 2.9% ($2.48 billion), and an aggregated "Areas, nes" reporting category, covering trade partners not broken out individually in the underlying data, contributed 2.5% ($2.14 billion). Spain added 2.2% ($1.84 billion), Peru 2.1% ($1.77 billion), and Mexico rounded out the top ten at 2.0% ($1.68 billion).
Fuel and Machinery Dominate What Chile Buys
Mineral fuels, mineral oils, and related distillation products led all import categories in 2023, worth $17.68 billion and accounting for 20.8% of total value, more than any other category. That scale of fuel dependence is striking for a country so closely associated with mineral wealth, but Chile produces very little oil or natural gas of its own. Analysis of the country's energy relationships notes that Chile is heavily dependent on imports to meet local energy demand, with a network of pipelines carrying Argentine natural gas across the Andes to help fill the gap, a connection that lines up with Argentina's position as the country's fourth-largest supplier overall. That dependence has proven vulnerable in the past: Chile invested heavily in liquefied natural gas import terminals after Argentina cut back pipeline exports during a domestic gas shortage in the mid-2000s, and the country has continued diversifying its energy supply since, even as Argentine gas has flowed again in more recent years.
Machinery and mechanical appliances ranked second at 12.2% ($10.40 billion), electrical machinery third at 10.0% ($8.52 billion), and vehicles fourth at 9.5% ($8.08 billion), together with fuel making up more than half of everything Chile imports and supplying the equipment, vehicles, and electronics that keep its mining operations and broader consumer economy running day to day. Plastics added 3.0% ($2.53 billion), pharmaceutical products 2.6% ($2.25 billion), and meat and edible offal 2.3% ($1.99 billion), notable given how much fresh fruit and seafood Chile itself exports, a reminder that a strong export position in one part of the food chain doesn't automatically translate into self-sufficiency across every category of food. Optical and medical instruments contributed 2.0% ($1.74 billion), iron and steel articles a nearly identical 2.0% ($1.68 billion), and inorganic chemicals rounded out the top ten at 1.8% ($1.53 billion).
A Sharp Pullback From a Record 2022
Chile's import total swung even more sharply than its exports over the past five years. It stood at $69.85 billion in 2019, fell to $59.20 billion in 2020 as the pandemic curbed demand for machinery, vehicles, and other manufactured goods, then rebounded strongly to $92.19 billion in 2021 and a five-year high of $104.61 billion in 2022, before dropping 18.6% to $85.19 billion in 2023.
Set against the $92.96 billion Chile exported the same year, this import total leaves the country with a trade surplus of roughly $7.77 billion in 2023, consistent with a commodity-exporting economy whose export earnings from copper and other resources comfortably cover a large and varied import bill. That marks a shift from 2022, when imports actually exceeded exports, since imports fell by a much wider margin than exports in 2023, an 18.6% drop compared with a 5.7% decline on the export side, suggesting weaker domestic demand for machinery, vehicles, and other manufactured goods played at least as large a role in restoring the surplus as anything happening on the export side. 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.