01Key Takeaways
- Mauritania imported $4.82 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 5.90% from $5.12 billion in 2022.
- Mineral fuels were the largest import category by far, at 35.99% ($1.73 billion), since Mauritania refines almost none of its own fuel.
- The UAE supplied 18.44% of imports ($888.44 million), more than any other country, largely fuel routed through Gulf trading hubs.
- Belgium supplied 10.79% of imports ($519.64 million), reflecting Antwerp's role as a consolidation port for goods headed to West Africa.
025-Year Trend
| Year | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $3.5B | $2.7B | $3.9B | $5.1B | $4.8B |
03Top Import Markets (2023)
| Rank | Partner | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United Arab Emirates | $888.4M | 18.4% |
| 2 | Spain | $615.1M | 12.8% |
| 3 | Belgium | $519.6M | 10.8% |
| 4 | China | $386.0M | 8.0% |
| 5 | France | $334.3M | 6.9% |
| 6 | Morocco | $225.0M | 4.7% |
| 7 | Brazil | $223.4M | 4.6% |
| 8 | United States | $185.5M | 3.9% |
| 9 | Indonesia | $158.2M | 3.3% |
| 10 | Malaysia | $151.7M | 3.1% |
04Top Import Categories (2023)
| Rank | Category | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mineral Fuels, Mineral Oils and Products of their Distillation; Bituminous Substances; Mineral Waxes | $1.7B | 36.0% |
| 2 | Nuclear Reactors, Boilers, Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Parts thereof | $452.1M | 9.4% |
| 3 | Animal or Vegetable Fats and Oils and their Cleavage Products; Prepared Edible Fats; Animal or Vegetable Waxes | $338.0M | 7.0% |
| 4 | Sugars and Sugar Confectionery | $303.3M | 6.3% |
| 5 | Cereals | $247.2M | 5.1% |
| 6 | Vehicles other than Railway or Tramway Rolling-Stock, and parts and accessories thereof | $232.2M | 4.8% |
| 7 | 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 | $196.6M | 4.1% |
| 8 | Articles of Iron or Steel | $169.1M | 3.5% |
| 9 | Pharmaceutical Products | $131.7M | 2.7% |
| 10 | Dairy Produce; Birds' Eggs; Natural Honey; Edible Products of Animal Origin, not elsewhere specified or included | $81.1M | 1.7% |
05Trade Partner Map
06Analysis
Fuel From the Gulf Dominates the Import Bill
Mauritania imported $4.82 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 5.90% from $5.12 billion in 2022. Mineral fuels led every category by a wide margin at 35.99% of the total, worth $1.73 billion. Mauritania has limited refining capacity of its own, so the diesel and gasoline that run its trucks, generators and fishing fleet largely arrive already refined. The country's single refinery, in Nouadhibou, has a capacity of 20,000 barrels a day but typically runs at only about a quarter of that, while national consumption of refined products reached 32,000 barrels a day in 2023. The gap between what that refinery can produce and what the country actually burns has to be filled entirely by imports. The UAE supplied 18.44% of Mauritania's imports ($888.44 million), more than any other country, and fuel is the biggest reason why. The Emirati port of Fujairah hosts the Middle East's largest commercial storage capacity for refined products and sits at the heart of an energy trading corridor stretching from the Suez Canal to Asia and Africa. Fuel that never touched Emirati soil in any meaningful sense still counts as coming from the UAE once it passes through a Gulf trading hub like Fujairah on its way to Mauritania.
Machinery, boilers and nuclear reactor parts added 9.38% ($452.13 million), largely equipment feeding the country's mining and energy sectors. That category sits on the other side of the same iron ore and gold story that dominates Mauritania's exports. Extracting and shipping those commodities takes heavy machinery the country does not build itself, so equipment flows in even as ore and metal flow out. Animal and vegetable fats and oils contributed 7.02% ($338.02 million), and sugars added 6.30% ($303.28 million), two food staples Mauritania cannot grow enough of on its own. Cereals supplied 5.13% ($247.22 million), a category that matters more than its ranking suggests in a country where domestic grain harvests fall well short of what the population needs. Vehicles added 4.82% ($232.21 million). Electrical machinery contributed 4.08% ($196.58 million), and iron and steel articles added 3.51% ($169.07 million). Pharmaceutical products supplied 2.73% ($131.71 million), and dairy products closed out the top ten at 1.68% ($81.15 million).
Sugar Comes From Brazil, Cooking Oil From Southeast Asia
Spain supplied 12.77% of Mauritania's imports in 2023, worth $615.14 million, the second-largest source after the UAE. Belgium followed at 10.79% ($519.64 million), an outsized share for a country with no direct trade relationship built on raw materials. Antwerp has become a consolidation hub for goods headed to West Africa, and even products manufactured elsewhere in Europe often pick up a Belgian origin once they pass through the port. China added 8.01% ($385.99 million), and France contributed 6.94% ($334.26 million). Morocco supplied 4.67% ($224.95 million), reflecting overland trade between the two neighbors.
Brazil supplied 4.64% ($223.36 million), and the connection to Mauritania's import basket is direct. Brazil is the world's largest exporter of sugar, accounting for nearly 40% of global sugar exports, and sugar sits among Mauritania's top ten import categories. The USA supplied 3.85% ($185.53 million). Indonesia and Malaysia rounded out the top ten at 3.28% ($158.23 million) and 3.15% ($151.71 million). Indonesia and Malaysia together account for roughly four-fifths of the world's palm oil exports, which lines up closely with the vegetable oils and fats sitting near the top of Mauritania's import categories.
A Post-Pandemic Peak Has Started to Ease
Import values climbed for three straight years before pulling back. The total stood at $3.52 billion in 2019, then dropped to $2.74 billion in 2020 as the pandemic disrupted trade. It rebounded to $3.86 billion in 2021, then jumped to $5.12 billion in 2022, the high point of the five-year window. It eased to $4.82 billion in 2023, down 5.90% from that peak.
Mauritania's import bill tracks two things closely: global fuel prices and the country's own mining and energy investment cycle. The 2022 spike lines up with a period of elevated global energy prices, and the pullback in 2023 tracks their retreat. With mineral fuels worth more than a third of everything the country buys from abroad, swings in the oil market will keep moving Mauritania's import figures more than any change in food or consumer demand at home. The mining sector adds a second lever on top of that. Heavier investment in new iron ore or gold capacity pulls in more machinery imports at the same time, which is part of why 2022's energy-price spike and mining expansion showed up together in the same year's total.