01Key Takeaways
- The Dominican Republic imported $31.34 billion worth of goods in 2023, up 17.12% from $26.76 billion in 2022, a new high across the five-year window.
- The USA supplied 40.67% of total imports, worth $12.75 billion, and China ranked second at 16.44% ($5.15 billion).
- Mineral fuels were the top import category at 18.26% ($5.72 billion), reflecting a country with essentially no domestic oil production.
- The Dominican Republic's top three suppliers, the USA, China, and Brazil, made up 60.99% of total import value in 2023.
025-Year Trend
| Year | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $22.0B | $17.1B | $24.2B | $26.8B | $31.3B |
03Top Import Markets (2023)
| Rank | Partner | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | $12.7B | 40.7% |
| 2 | China | $5.2B | 16.4% |
| 3 | Brazil | $1.2B | 3.9% |
| 4 | Mexico | $1.2B | 3.8% |
| 5 | Spain | $1.2B | 3.7% |
| 6 | Italy | $976.7M | 3.1% |
| 7 | Colombia | $709.1M | 2.3% |
| 8 | Japan | $573.2M | 1.8% |
| 9 | Germany | $551.8M | 1.8% |
| 10 | India | $495.3M | 1.6% |
04Top Import Categories (2023)
| Rank | Category | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mineral Fuels, Mineral Oils and Products of their Distillation; Bituminous Substances; Mineral Waxes | $5.7B | 18.3% |
| 2 | Vehicles other than Railway or Tramway Rolling-Stock, and parts and accessories thereof | $2.6B | 8.3% |
| 3 | Nuclear Reactors, Boilers, Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Parts thereof | $2.5B | 7.9% |
| 4 | 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 | $2.3B | 7.5% |
| 5 | Plastics and Articles thereof | $2.2B | 7.0% |
| 6 | Pharmaceutical Products | $1.1B | 3.4% |
| 7 | Iron and Steel | $956.5M | 3.1% |
| 8 | Natural or Cultured Pearls, Precious or Semi-Precious Stones, Precious Metals, Metals Clad with Precious Metal, and Articles thereof; Imitation Jewellery; Coin | $793.1M | 2.5% |
| 9 | Articles of Iron or Steel | $742.6M | 2.4% |
| 10 | Paper and Paperboard; Articles of Paper Pulp, of Paper or of Paperboard | $713.2M | 2.3% |
05Trade Partner Map
06Analysis
Two Suppliers Account for More Than Half the Import Bill
The Dominican Republic imported $31.34 billion worth of goods in 2023, up 17.12% from $26.76 billion the year before, a new high across the five years of data available here. The United States supplied 40.67% of that total, worth $12.75 billion. China ranked a distant second at 16.44% ($5.15 billion). Together, those two suppliers alone account for well over half of everything the Dominican Republic buys from abroad.
Brazil followed at 3.88% ($1.21 billion), rounding out a top three that made up 60.99% of total import value in 2023. Mexico added 3.75% ($1.18 billion), and Spain contributed 3.73% ($1.17 billion), a reminder of the deep historical and linguistic ties that still shape Spanish trade with its former colony. Italy took 3.12% ($976.67 million), and Colombia added 2.26% ($709.12 million).
Japan contributed 1.83% ($573.18 million), Germany added 1.76% ($551.83 million), and India closed out the top ten at 1.58% ($495.27 million). Compared with the export side, where the USA alone buys 60% of everything shipped out, the import list spreads out more once past the top two suppliers, drawing from manufacturing centers across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
Fuel and Raw Materials Feed Both a Power Grid and a Free-Zone Economy
Mineral fuels led every import category, worth $5.72 billion, or 18.26% of the total. The Dominican Republic has not recorded any meaningful domestic oil production in recent years, with over 61% of its hydrocarbon imports coming from the United States as of the most recent data available, alongside smaller volumes from the Netherlands and Trinidad and Tobago. Vehicles ranked second at 8.31% ($2.61 billion), and machinery and mechanical appliances followed at 7.93% ($2.48 billion).
Electrical machinery added 7.46% ($2.34 billion), and plastics contributed 6.96% ($2.18 billion), both common inputs for the electronics and medical device assembly that dominates the export side. Pharmaceutical products took 3.36% ($1.05 billion), a mix of finished medicines and the active ingredients that feed local packaging and formulation plants. Iron and steel added 3.05% ($956.49 million).
Precious stones, precious metals, and jewelry ranked eighth at 2.53% ($793.13 million). Free zone companies can bring in raw materials, parts, and intermediate goods with duties and import taxes suspended. They then re-export the finished product within 18 months. That explains why this category shows up on both sides of the Dominican Republic's trade ledger. Raw gold and gemstones arrive here, then leave again as finished jewelry, the country's single largest export category by value.
Iron or steel articles added 2.37% ($742.63 million), and paper and paperboard closed out the top ten at 2.28% ($713.20 million). Between the fuel that powers the free zones and the raw metals and gemstones that feed the jewelry industry, several of this import list's largest categories exist specifically to support the manufacturing that shows up as finished goods on the export side. That pattern, import raw inputs duty-free, add value domestically, then export the result, is the same free-zone model that has anchored Dominican trade policy for decades, and it shows up just as clearly here on the import side as it does on the export side.
A Steady Climb Since the Pandemic Low
The Dominican Republic's import total followed a smoother path than its export total across the five years covered here. It stood at $21.98 billion in 2019, then dropped to $17.10 billion in 2020 as the pandemic disrupted global trade, a sharper percentage decline than the export side saw that same year. It then climbed every single year afterward: $24.19 billion in 2021, $26.76 billion in 2022, and $31.34 billion in 2023, up 17.12% year over year.
That steady, uninterrupted climb since 2020 contrasts with the export total's jagged path over the same stretch, which fell again in 2022 before jumping in 2023. A growing gap between a steadily rising import bill and a more volatile export total is worth watching, since it shapes the country's trade balance and how exposed the economy is to swings in fuel prices or shipping costs from its two dominant suppliers. An import bill this size, concentrated so heavily in fuel and manufacturing inputs from the USA and China, also means the Dominican Republic's trade position moves with decisions made far outside its own borders, whether that's a change in US tariff policy, a shift in Chinese factory output, or a jump in the global price of crude oil.