01Key Takeaways
- Montenegro imported $4.12 billion worth of goods in 2023, up 10.57% from $3.72 billion in 2022.
- Mineral fuels led every import category at 10.36% ($426.32 million), since the country has no refinery of its own.
- China supplied 11.16% of imports ($459.23 million), a share tied heavily to a Chinese-built highway project that has left Montenegro carrying a large debt load.
- Serbia remained the top import source at 17.38% ($715.53 million), followed by China and Germany.
025-Year Trend
| Year | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $2.9B | $2.4B | $2.9B | $3.7B | $4.1B |
03Top Import Markets (2023)
| Rank | Partner | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Serbia | $715.5M | 17.4% |
| 2 | China | $459.2M | 11.2% |
| 3 | Germany | $398.2M | 9.7% |
| 4 | Greece | $265.7M | 6.5% |
| 5 | Italy | $253.1M | 6.1% |
| 6 | Croatia | $244.8M | 5.9% |
| 7 | Turkey | $210.9M | 5.1% |
| 8 | Bosnia & Herzegovina | $199.6M | 4.8% |
| 9 | France | $98.0M | 2.4% |
| 10 | Spain | $82.1M | 2.0% |
04Top Import Categories (2023)
| Rank | Category | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mineral Fuels, Mineral Oils and Products of their Distillation; Bituminous Substances; Mineral Waxes | $426.3M | 10.4% |
| 2 | Vehicles other than Railway or Tramway Rolling-Stock, and parts and accessories thereof | $362.6M | 8.8% |
| 3 | Nuclear Reactors, Boilers, Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Parts thereof | $309.5M | 7.5% |
| 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 | $257.8M | 6.3% |
| 5 | Pharmaceutical Products | $200.2M | 4.9% |
| 6 | Meat and Edible Meat Offal | $157.0M | 3.8% |
| 7 | Furniture; Bedding, Mattresses, Mattress Supports, Cushions and similar Stuffed Furnishings; Lamps and Lighting Fittings, not elsewhere specified or included; Illuminated Signs, Illuminated Name-plates and the like; Prefabricated Buildings | $131.0M | 3.2% |
| 8 | Beverages, Spirits and Vinegar | $128.3M | 3.1% |
| 9 | Articles of Iron or Steel | $123.0M | 3.0% |
| 10 | Plastics and Articles thereof | $111.7M | 2.7% |
05Trade Partner Map
06Analysis
Fuel and a Chinese-Built Highway Push Imports Higher
Montenegro imported $4.12 billion worth of goods in 2023, up 10.57% from $3.72 billion in 2022, the sharpest annual jump in the five-year window. Mineral fuels led every category at 10.36% of the total, worth $426.32 million. Montenegro has no oil refinery of its own, so every liter of gasoline and diesel the country burns arrives already processed from abroad. Vehicles followed at 8.81% ($362.61 million), and machinery contributed 7.52% ($309.47 million), a category that includes heavy equipment tied to ongoing infrastructure projects. Electrical machinery added 6.26% ($257.82 million). None of these top four categories reflects any domestic manufacturing base of real size or scale. Montenegro assembles almost nothing itself, so vehicles, machinery and electronics all arrive as finished products ready for use rather than raw materials feeding local factories.
Pharmaceutical products supplied 4.86% ($200.24 million), and meat added 3.81% ($157.02 million). Furniture contributed 3.18% ($131.00 million), a category that tracks closely with Montenegro's hospitality industry. Montenegro has Europe's highest economic reliance on tourism, with the sector contributing 25.5% of GDP according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. Hotels and resorts along the Adriatic coast need a constant supply of furnishings, much of it imported rather than produced locally. Beverages, spirits and vinegar added 3.12% ($128.29 million), and iron and steel articles contributed 2.99% ($123.00 million). Plastics closed out the top ten at 2.71% ($111.75 million).
Serbia Supplies the Most, China's Share Comes With a Debt Story
Serbia supplied 17.38% of Montenegro's imports in 2023, worth $715.53 million, more than any other single country by a wide margin. China followed at 11.16% ($459.23 million), an unusually large share for a country of Montenegro's size. Montenegro borrowed nearly $1 billion from the Export-Import Bank of China to finance a section of the highway linking the Adriatic port of Bar to Serbia. That completed stretch covers only a fraction of the full route still planned. At its peak, the debt tied to the project totaled more than a third of the national budget for a country of just 620,000 people. Materials and equipment tied to that project help explain why a country with limited direct trade history with China now counts it among its largest import sources. The highway itself remains far from finished, with most of the originally planned route still unbuilt years after construction began. Whatever machinery and construction material the remaining phases still require will likely keep showing up in Montenegro's import figures under China's name for years to come.
Germany supplied 9.67% ($398.18 million), and Greece added 6.45% ($265.68 million). Italy contributed 6.15% ($253.08 million), and Croatia supplied 5.95% ($244.79 million), both reflecting Montenegro's position along well-established Adriatic and Mediterranean shipping routes. Turkey added 5.13% ($210.95 million), and Bosnia and Herzegovina contributed 4.85% ($199.58 million). France supplied 2.38% ($98.02 million), and Spain rounded out the top ten at 1.99% ($82.08 million).
Imports Have Climbed for Four of the Last Five Years
Import values dropped only once during the entire pandemic period before climbing steadily every single year since. The total stood at $2.91 billion in 2019, fell to $2.39 billion in 2020 as COVID-19 disrupted trade and travel, then recovered to $2.95 billion in 2021. It climbed further to $3.72 billion in 2022 and jumped again to $4.12 billion in 2023, the fastest single-year increase across the entire five-year period.
That growth runs well ahead of Montenegro's export totals, which sit at a fraction of the import figure and actually declined slightly over the same year. A tourism-dependent economy this small will keep running a large trade deficit almost by design, since so much of what fills its hotels, restaurants and shops has to come from somewhere else. Visitor numbers along the Adriatic coast keep rising every single summer, and each new season of arrivals means another fresh round of imported food, fuel, furnishings and vehicles to keep everything running smoothly.
The bigger question is how long the country keeps paying down infrastructure debt tied to projects like the Bar-Boljare highway, since that repayment burden sits alongside the ordinary import bill rather than replacing any part of it. A small economy carrying both a widening trade deficit and a large foreign loan has much less room to absorb any future shock, whether that shock comes from a weak tourist season or a renewed slowdown in regional construction spending.