Eswatini Import Trade Data: $2.04B in 2023, Down 4.01%

South Africa Supplies Nearly Three-Quarters of Everything

Eswatini imported $2.04 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 4.01% from $2.12 billion the year before. South Africa supplied 73.76% of that total, worth $1.50 billion, an even larger share than the 67.52% it buys on the export side. Eswatini is landlocked and relies entirely on the seaports of its neighbors, primarily the South African ports of Durban and Richards Bay. That geography means nearly everything entering the country tends to pass through South African hands at some point in the journey, whether the underlying goods were originally manufactured in South Africa itself or simply routed through it on the way from somewhere farther away. A country with no direct maritime access of its own has little choice but to build its supply chains around whichever neighbor controls the nearest working port.

China ranked a distant second at 7.57% ($154.34 million), and India took 3.55% ($72.32 million). Combined, those three suppliers made up 84.88% of total import value in 2023, one of the most concentrated supplier lists covered on this site, and notably tighter than the already-concentrated 75.71% seen on Eswatini's export side. The United States added 1.55% ($31.52 million), and Mozambique contributed 1.24% ($25.33 million), a second bordering country alongside South Africa. Ireland took 0.93% ($18.89 million), a surprising entry for a country of Eswatini's size that likely reflects pharmaceutical or specialty chemical trade given Ireland's large pharmaceutical manufacturing base. Germany added 0.92% ($18.73 million), and the United Arab Emirates contributed 0.84% ($17.15 million). Italy added 0.64% ($13.01 million), and Bahrain closed out the top ten at 0.63% ($12.82 million). Every supplier outside the top three claims less than 2% of the total, underscoring just how top-heavy this list really is.

Fuel Leads, but Cotton Tells the More Interesting Story

Mineral fuels led every import category, worth $381.74 million, or 18.73% of the total, unsurprising for a landlocked country with no oil production of its own and no port to bring crude oil in through directly. Machinery and mechanical appliances ranked second at 5.97% ($121.76 million), and vehicles followed at 5.87% ($119.67 million), reflecting Eswatini's own lack of any domestic car assembly industry. Electrical machinery added 4.32% ($88.15 million), and cereals contributed 4.27% ($86.96 million), a food-security category for a country that doesn't grow enough grain, mainly maize, to feed itself year-round.

Plastics took 3.86% ($78.79 million), much of it feeding packaging needs across the country's food, beverage, and manufacturing sectors. Beverages, spirits, and vinegar added 3.16% ($64.48 million). Cotton ranked eighth at 3.00% ($61.09 million). Textile and apparel firms in Eswatini source their fabrics from East Asia rather than from domestic cotton production, which explains why raw cotton and textile inputs show up as a meaningful import category even though finished apparel is one of Eswatini's own export lines. Organic chemicals contributed 2.69% ($54.79 million), and essential oils, resinoids, and perfumery preparations closed out the top ten at 2.59% ($52.80 million), the same category that dominates Eswatini's export list. Raw flavoring and fragrance ingredients likely enter here before leaving again as finished Coca-Cola concentrate.

A Steady Total With a Small Pullback in 2023

Eswatini's import total moved through a modest cycle across the five years covered here. It stood at $1.83 billion in 2019, then fell to $1.61 billion in 2020 as the pandemic disrupted global trade. It rebounded sharply to $2.12 billion in 2021 and held almost exactly flat at $2.12 billion in 2022, before easing to $2.04 billion in 2023, down 4.01% year over year.

That small 2023 dip contrasts with the 5.28% gain on Eswatini's export side the same year, meaning the country's trade balance likely improved somewhat even as both totals stayed within a narrow band. Given how heavily this import list depends on a single neighboring country for nearly three-quarters of its value, Eswatini's import bill is less a reflection of global commodity trends and more a reflection of South African supply, pricing, and logistics conditions specifically.

That dependence cuts in multiple directions at once. It gives Eswatini access to a large, well-developed neighboring economy and its port infrastructure without having to build any of that capacity domestically, but it also means fuel prices, currency moves, and supply disruptions inside South Africa translate almost directly into changes in what Eswatini pays for the goods it can't produce itself. Few countries covered on this site show their import side tied this closely to a single neighboring economy's fortunes.