01Key Takeaways
- Djibouti imported $5.29 billion worth of goods in 2023, up 4.00% from $5.09 billion in 2022.
- China was the top supplier at 17.68% ($935.98 million), followed by India at 14.49% ($766.99 million).
- Unlike Djibouti's export side, no single country dominates imports: the top three suppliers combined for 43.61% of the total.
- Animal and vegetable fats and oils were the top import category at 16.17% ($856.23 million), the same category that leads Djibouti's export list.
023-Year Trend
| Year | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $4.0B | $5.1B | $5.3B |
03Top Import Markets (2023)
| Rank | Partner | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | $936.0M | 17.7% |
| 2 | India | $767.0M | 14.5% |
| 3 | United Arab Emirates | $605.9M | 11.4% |
| 4 | Turkey | $490.6M | 9.3% |
| 5 | Saudi Arabia | $452.0M | 8.5% |
| 6 | Indonesia | $293.7M | 5.5% |
| 7 | Malaysia | $224.3M | 4.2% |
| 8 | Japan | $216.6M | 4.1% |
| 9 | Oman | $215.6M | 4.1% |
| 10 | Singapore | $142.7M | 2.7% |
04Top Import Categories (2023)
| Rank | Category | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Animal or Vegetable Fats and Oils and their Cleavage Products; Prepared Edible Fats; Animal or Vegetable Waxes | $856.2M | 16.2% |
| 2 | Vehicles other than Railway or Tramway Rolling-Stock, and parts and accessories thereof | $776.6M | 14.7% |
| 3 | Iron and Steel | $566.5M | 10.7% |
| 4 | Sugars and Sugar Confectionery | $433.8M | 8.2% |
| 5 | Mineral Fuels, Mineral Oils and Products of their Distillation; Bituminous Substances; Mineral Waxes | $418.6M | 7.9% |
| 6 | Cereals | $307.7M | 5.8% |
| 7 | Plastics and Articles thereof | $299.1M | 5.6% |
| 8 | Nuclear Reactors, Boilers, Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Parts thereof | $187.1M | 3.5% |
| 9 | 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 | $183.3M | 3.5% |
| 10 | Printed Books, Newspapers, Pictures and other Products of the Printing Industry; Manuscripts, Typescripts and Plans | $129.2M | 2.4% |
05Trade Partner Map
06Analysis
China and India Lead a List With No Single Dominant Supplier
Djibouti imported $5.29 billion worth of goods in 2023. That was up 4.00% from $5.09 billion the year before. China supplied 17.68% of the total, worth $935.98 million. India ranked second at 14.49% ($766.99 million). United Arab Emirates followed at 11.44% ($605.93 million). Combined, those three suppliers made up 43.61% of Djibouti's import total in 2023. That's a far less concentrated picture than the export side, where a single country buys more than four out of every five dollars Djibouti ships out.
Turkey added 9.26% ($490.57 million). Saudi Arabia followed at 8.54% ($451.98 million). Indonesia contributed 5.55% ($293.69 million), Malaysia added 4.24% ($224.32 million), and Japan took 4.09% ($216.56 million). Oman added 4.07% ($215.62 million), and Singapore closed out the top ten at 2.69% ($142.69 million). Every one of Djibouti's top ten suppliers sits in Asia or the Gulf, a geography that lines up with the shipping lanes running from Asian manufacturing hubs and Gulf refineries toward the Red Sea.
The Same Goods That Arrive Also Tend to Leave
Animal and vegetable fats and oils led every import category, worth $856.23 million, or 16.17% of the total. That's the same category that tops Djibouti's export list. Vehicles ranked second at 14.67% ($776.59 million), also the same category that ranks second among exports. Iron and steel followed at 10.70% ($566.50 million), again mirroring the export side almost exactly. The Port of Djibouti functions as a key transshipment center and the principal maritime outlet for the surrounding landlocked hinterland, which explains why so many of the same goods show up on both sides of Djibouti's trade ledger. They arrive, then move on rather than staying in the country.
Sugar and sugar confectionery added 8.19% ($433.85 million). Mineral fuels contributed 7.91% ($418.61 million), a category that doesn't appear anywhere in Djibouti's top ten exports, likely fuel used domestically or to power onward transport rather than re-shipped whole. Cereals took 5.81% ($307.74 million), and plastics added 5.65% ($299.09 million). Machinery and boilers contributed 3.53% ($187.05 million), and electrical machinery added 3.46% ($183.35 million). Printed books, newspapers, and other printing-industry products closed out the top ten at 2.44% ($129.22 million). Chinese-built port and free-trade-zone infrastructure, including the Doraleh Multi-Purpose Port, underpins much of Djibouti's ambition to become a regional trading hub, and that infrastructure is a big part of why so much of this cargo flows through Djibouti rather than a competing regional port.
Growth That Outpaced Exports, Over the Same Short Window
Like the export side, this fact sheet covers three years rather than the usual five: $3.97 billion in 2021, $5.09 billion in 2022, and $5.29 billion in 2023. Earlier annual figures aren't available in the underlying dataset for Djibouti's import side either, so treat this as a shorter snapshot rather than the full five-year picture available for most other countries on this site.
Within that window, imports grew 4.00% in 2023, a touch faster than the 3.83% growth on Djibouti's export side over the same year. Both totals moved in the same direction and by roughly the same margin, which fits a small transshipment economy where inbound and outbound cargo volumes tend to track each other closely. A jump in one side of the ledger without a matching jump in the other would be the more surprising outcome here, not the pattern actually shown in the data.