Myanmar Import Data: $16.44B in 2023, Down 5.53%

Myanmar Imports the Fuel It Cannot Refine

Myanmar imported $16.44 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 5.53% from $17.40 billion in 2022. Mineral fuels led every category by a wide margin, at 32.86% of the total, worth $5.40 billion. That single category is worth more than the next five categories combined. Myanmar has limited refining capacity, with only a few small, aging refineries serving local markets, so the country imports a significant share of the refined petroleum products it needs for industry and transportation. Myanmar meets roughly 95% of its fuel demand through imports as a result. That gap exists despite Myanmar exporting large volumes of its own natural gas through pipelines to Thailand and China, covered in the companion export data for this country. Raw gas leaving Myanmar and refined fuel arriving from elsewhere are two separate flows that do not offset each other.

Singapore supplied 22.53% of imports, worth $3.70 billion, Myanmar's second-largest source overall and, per the same research, its single largest supplier of fuel specifically. Singapore's position as one of the world's biggest refined-petroleum trading and storage hubs is why a small city-state with no oil reserves of its own ranks so high on this list. That pattern echoes what shows up in many countries that produce raw energy commodities but lack the refining capacity to process them domestically, and it explains why Myanmar's fuel bill depends so heavily on just two suppliers rather than a broad mix of crude-producing nations.

China Supplies Fabric and Fertilizer Alongside Fuel

China supplied 30.97% of Myanmar's imports in 2023, worth $5.09 billion, more than any other single country. China is Myanmar's single largest import source overall, supplying significant quantities of the man-made fiber and steel products that dominate Myanmar's import spending. That fabric trade lines up closely with two smaller import categories in this data. Man-made filaments supplied 3.85% of imports ($633 million), and man-made staple fibres added 3.30% ($542 million). Under the cut-make-trim model common across Asian garment manufacturing, buyers or their sourcing agents typically supply the fabric and yarn. Local factories only cut, sew and finish the pieces before shipping the finished garments back out. That division of labor is a likely explanation for why Myanmar imports so much synthetic fiber input alongside the sizable garment export industry covered in the companion export article.

Machinery and mechanical equipment added 5.87% ($965 million), and electrical machinery contributed 4.73% ($778 million). Both reflect continued investment in factories, power infrastructure and the equipment needed to keep garment and food-processing plants running. Animal, vegetable and microbial fats and oils supplied 3.97% ($653 million), and iron and steel added 3.95% ($650 million). The steel figure feeds construction and manufacturing broadly, rather than any single flagship project. Fertilizers contributed 3.57% ($587 million), supporting the same agricultural sector behind Myanmar's rice and pulse exports. Plastics supplied 3.50% ($575 million). Pharmaceutical products closed out the top ten at 2.48% ($408 million), a category Myanmar's own industry still cannot supply at scale.

US Sanctions Bite Harder on What Myanmar Buys Than What It Sells

Thailand supplied 12.75% of imports ($2.10 billion), and Malaysia added 8.32% ($1.37 billion). Indonesia contributed 7.21% ($1.19 billion). These three round out a group of Southeast Asian economies that combine refining capacity with proximity to Myanmar. South Korea supplied 3.37% ($553 million), and India added 2.73% ($448 million). Vietnam contributed 1.78% ($293 million), and Japan added 1.21% ($199 million). Together, China, Singapore and Thailand made up 66.25% of total import value, one of the more concentrated top-three shares in this entire dataset.

The USA supplied just 1.07% of imports, worth $175 million, a fraction of the 3.98% share it took on the export side of Myanmar's trade. US sanctions specifically restrict jet fuel exports and re-exports to Myanmar's military end users and prohibit financial services tied to the state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, rather than blocking imports of Myanmar-made goods like garments. That asymmetry explains why the USA looks so different on the two sides of Myanmar's trade ledger. Tight controls apply to what flows into Myanmar's military-linked economy, while buying from its private-sector garment factories has remained largely open. Import totals swung sharply over the past five years, climbing from $18.61 billion in 2019 to $17.97 billion in 2020, then crashing to $14.33 billion in 2021, the coup year. They partially recovered to $17.40 billion in 2022 before easing again to $16.44 billion in 2023.