Niger Import Data: $3.15B in 2023, Down 16.66%

Aircraft Purchases Made Up Niger's Single Largest Import Category

Niger imported $3.15 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 16.66% from $3.78 billion in 2022. Aircraft, spacecraft and parts led every category, at 19.93% of the total, worth $627.72 million, an unusually large share for a landlocked, low-income Sahel economy of Niger's size. Public reporting available at the time of writing does not clearly identify a single transaction or program of this scale. Categories this size usually reflect either a handful of very large purchases concentrated in one year or a broader pattern of deliveries that trade statistics group together without naming individual buyers, sellers or aircraft types.

Niger's air force received its third C-130 Hercules transport aircraft in early January 2023. That delivery was part of a broader security assistance relationship. The multi-year value of that donation program has been reported at roughly $30 million, far smaller than the full import figure recorded here. That gap is worth noting directly. It sits between one confirmed, publicly documented aircraft-related event for the year and the far larger scale of the total import category. The gap suggests other aircraft purchases, leases or deliveries took place during 2023. Those additional transactions are not broken out in the underlying trade data, and public reporting available so far does not cover them in any further detail.

Cereals and Fuel Round Out a Mix Shaped by Food and Energy Needs

Machinery supplied 13.12% of imports ($413.24 million), and cereals contributed 9.87% ($310.81 million). Niger faces severe food insecurity, with roughly 2.4 million people acutely food insecure and the country losing an estimated 100,000 hectares of arable land a year to soil degradation. That structural gap between what Niger's farms can grow and what its population needs helps explain the country's reliance on imported grain, particularly in years when rainfall falls short across the wider Sahel region. Iron and steel articles added 8.34% ($262.72 million), reflecting ongoing construction and infrastructure needs, and electrical machinery contributed 7.68% ($241.94 million).

Mineral fuels supplied 7.27% of imports ($229.03 million), a category that sits somewhat awkwardly alongside the domestic refining capacity covered in the companion export data for this country, where Niger's Soraz refinery has historically produced more fuel than the country consumes on its own. The specific product types or supply gaps behind these 2023 fuel imports are not detailed in the underlying trade data. Vehicles added 4.31% ($135.61 million), a category covering everything from private cars to commercial trucks used across the country's transport network. Pharmaceutical products supplied 2.94% ($92.65 million), a category Niger's own manufacturing base cannot supply at any meaningful scale. Animal and vegetable fats and oils contributed 2.29% ($72.23 million), and arms and ammunition closed out the top ten at 2.02% ($63.72 million), a category tied to Niger's ongoing security operations against armed groups active in the wider Sahel region.

China and France Together Supply Half of Everything Niger Buys

China supplied 27.28% of Niger's imports in 2023, worth $859.08 million, more than any other country. France followed closely at 24.18% ($761.48 million). India added 11.56% ($364.19 million), and Nigeria contributed 6.61% ($208.26 million). The United Arab Emirates supplied 5.22% ($164.47 million), and Belgium added 2.34% ($73.68 million).

Japan contributed 2.33% ($73.30 million), and the USA supplied 2.03% ($63.94 million). Thailand added 1.60% ($50.47 million), and Togo rounded out the top ten at 1.29% ($40.66 million). Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso together accounted for more than 90% of transit traffic through Togo's port of Lome in 2022, with Niger specifically making up 7.63% of that transit volume. That transit role, similar to the one Benin plays for Niger's oil exports covered in the companion export data, reflects Niger's landlocked geography and its reliance on neighboring coastal ports to reach the rest of the world. Without direct sea access of its own, Niger has little choice but to route the bulk of its overseas trade through a small handful of ports across its coastal neighbors. Together, China, France and India made up 63.02% of total import value. Import totals swung across the past five years, from $2.77 billion in 2019 to $2.92 billion in 2020, back to $2.77 billion in 2021, then jumping sharply to $3.78 billion in 2022 before easing to $3.15 billion in 2023.