01Key Takeaways
- Nepal imported $13.74 billion worth of goods in 2022, down 13.18% from $15.83 billion in 2021.
- India supplied 63.21% of imports ($8.69 billion), and mineral fuels topped every category at 22.97% ($3.16 billion), since landlocked Nepal receives almost all its petroleum through India.
- Crude vegetable oil imports from Indonesia, Argentina and Ukraine feed the same refine-and-re-export trade to India covered in the companion export data for this country.
- The UAE alone supplied more than half of the entire "precious stones and metals" import category in 2022, mostly in the form of gold.
024-Year Trend
| Year | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $12.3B | $9.7B | $15.8B | $13.7B |
03Top Import Markets (2022)
| Rank | Partner | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | $8.7B | 63.2% |
| 2 | China | $1.9B | 13.5% |
| 3 | Indonesia | $354.0M | 2.6% |
| 4 | United Arab Emirates | $321.8M | 2.3% |
| 5 | United States | $293.9M | 2.1% |
| 6 | Argentina | $236.0M | 1.7% |
| 7 | Australia | $142.1M | 1.0% |
| 8 | Ukraine | $137.5M | 1.0% |
| 9 | Malaysia | $123.8M | 0.9% |
| 10 | Qatar | $97.1M | 0.7% |
04Top Import Categories (2022)
| Rank | Category | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mineral Fuels, Mineral Oils and Products of their Distillation; Bituminous Substances; Mineral Waxes | $3.2B | 23.0% |
| 2 | Iron and Steel | $1.1B | 8.1% |
| 3 | Nuclear Reactors, Boilers, Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Parts thereof | $951.6M | 6.9% |
| 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 | $858.2M | 6.2% |
| 5 | Animal or Vegetable Fats and Oils and their Cleavage Products; Prepared Edible Fats; Animal or Vegetable Waxes | $752.3M | 5.5% |
| 6 | Plastics and Articles thereof | $533.8M | 3.9% |
| 7 | Vehicles other than Railway or Tramway Rolling-Stock, and parts and accessories thereof | $527.0M | 3.8% |
| 8 | Cereals | $478.0M | 3.5% |
| 9 | Natural or Cultured Pearls, Precious or Semi-Precious Stones, Precious Metals, Metals Clad with Precious Metal, and Articles thereof; Imitation Jewellery; Coin | $440.6M | 3.2% |
| 10 | Pharmaceutical Products | $436.6M | 3.2% |
05Trade Partner Map
06Analysis
Nepal's Fuel Runs Almost Entirely Through India
Nepal imported $13.74 billion worth of goods in 2022, down 13.18% from $15.83 billion in 2021. Mineral fuels led every category by a wide margin, at 22.97% of the total, worth $3.16 billion. India supplies roughly two-thirds of Nepal's total imports by value, including petroleum products Nepal does not refine domestically, and landlocked Nepal depends on the Indian ports of Kolkata, Haldia and, since 2016, Visakhapatnam for maritime trade access. India overall supplied 63.21% of Nepal's imports, worth $8.69 billion, by far the largest share held by any single country in this entire dataset.
The Motihari-Amlekhgunj cross-border pipeline moves fuel roughly 69 kilometers from India into Nepal, handling about 200,000 liters an hour and expected to supply around 60% of Nepal's total diesel demand. That pipeline was built specifically to cut Nepal's reliance on fuel trucks moving over vulnerable mountain roads. It illustrates just how directly Nepal's energy supply depends on its southern neighbor.
The Same Crude Oil That Feeds Nepal's Re-Export Trade
Animal, vegetable and microbial fats and oils supplied 5.47% of imports, worth $752 million. Nepal imports crude palm oil from Indonesia and Thailand, crude soybean oil from Argentina, and crude sunflower oil from Argentina and Ukraine, refining it and re-exporting the finished product to India under South Asian Free Trade Area rules. Those same countries show up directly on Nepal's import partner list. Indonesia supplied 2.58% ($354 million), Argentina added 1.72% ($236 million), and Ukraine contributed 1.00% ($137 million).
This is the raw material side of a story covered in more depth in the companion export data for this country, where Nepal's edible oil exports to India boomed in 2021 before collapsing once India closed the tariff loophole that made the whole trade profitable. The crude oil import figures here and the refined oil export figures there are two halves of the same short-lived arbitrage business.
Gold From the Gulf and Steel for Construction Round Out the List
Iron and steel supplied 8.12% of imports, Nepal's second-largest category, worth $1.12 billion, reflecting ongoing construction and infrastructure demand. Machinery added 6.92% ($952 million), and electrical machinery contributed 6.24% ($858 million). Natural pearls, precious stones and precious metals, mostly gold, supplied 3.21% of imports ($441 million). Nepal imported $242.54 million worth of pearls, precious stones, metals and coins from the UAE in 2022, with gold making up $231.97 million of that total, more than half of the entire category's value. The UAE ranked fourth among Nepal's import partners overall at 2.34% ($322 million), a relationship built substantially on this gold trade.
China supplied 13.49% of imports ($1.85 billion), Nepal's second-largest source after India. Plastics added 3.88% ($534 million), and vehicles contributed 3.83% ($527 million). Cereals supplied 3.48% ($478 million), and pharmaceutical products added 3.18% ($437 million). The USA supplied 2.14% ($294 million), and Australia contributed 1.03% ($142 million). Malaysia added 0.90% ($124 million), and Qatar rounded out the top ten at 0.71% ($97 million). Together, India, China and Indonesia made up 79.28% of total import value. Import totals swung sharply across the years covered by this data, climbing from $12.33 billion in 2019 to $15.83 billion in 2021 before easing back to $13.74 billion in 2022.