01Key Takeaways
- North Macedonia imported $12.05 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 5.51% from $12.76 billion in 2022.
- The United Kingdom supplied 12.55% of imports, more than any other country, a share built substantially on platinum and palladium shipped in for the same Skopje catalyst plant covered in the companion export data.
- Mineral fuels topped imports at 13.00% ($1.57 billion), since North Macedonia's own oil refinery shut down years ago and the country now sources most of its petroleum products from Greece.
- Electrical machinery made up 12.37% of imports ($1.49 billion), likely reflecting components imported for the same automotive assembly work that dominates North Macedonia's exports.
025-Year Trend
| Year | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $9.4B | $8.7B | $11.4B | $12.8B | $12.1B |
03Top Import Markets (2023)
| Rank | Partner | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United Kingdom | $1.5B | 12.6% |
| 2 | Germany | $1.3B | 10.4% |
| 3 | Greece | $1.1B | 9.4% |
| 4 | China | $1.1B | 9.0% |
| 5 | Serbia | $837.6M | 7.0% |
| 6 | Turkey | $701.7M | 5.8% |
| 7 | Italy | $534.9M | 4.4% |
| 8 | Bulgaria | $522.8M | 4.3% |
| 9 | Poland | $377.9M | 3.1% |
| 10 | United States | $267.1M | 2.2% |
04Top Import Categories (2023)
| Rank | Category | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mineral Fuels, Mineral Oils and Products of their Distillation; Bituminous Substances; Mineral Waxes | $1.6B | 13.0% |
| 2 | 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 | $1.5B | 12.4% |
| 3 | Natural or Cultured Pearls, Precious or Semi-Precious Stones, Precious Metals, Metals Clad with Precious Metal, and Articles thereof; Imitation Jewellery; Coin | $1.2B | 10.1% |
| 4 | Nuclear Reactors, Boilers, Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Parts thereof | $765.6M | 6.4% |
| 5 | Iron and Steel | $576.2M | 4.8% |
| 6 | Vehicles other than Railway or Tramway Rolling-Stock, and parts and accessories thereof | $562.8M | 4.7% |
| 7 | Plastics and Articles thereof | $487.0M | 4.0% |
| 8 | Ceramic Products | $477.6M | 4.0% |
| 9 | Inorganic Chemicals; Organic or Inorganic Compounds of Precious Metals, of Rare-Earth Metals, of Radioactive Elements or of Isotopes | $394.1M | 3.3% |
| 10 | Pharmaceutical Products | $277.1M | 2.3% |
05Trade Partner Map
06Analysis
Platinum and Palladium Imports Feed the Same Catalyst Plant
North Macedonia imported $12.05 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 5.51% from $12.76 billion in 2022. The United Kingdom supplied 12.55% of that total, worth $1.51 billion, more than any other country. Johnson Matthey is a full and founder member of the London Platinum and Palladium Market, setting wholesale prices for these metals through trading desks in the UK, USA and Hong Kong. That membership offers a direct explanation for the UK's position atop North Macedonia's import partner list. The platinum and palladium used to manufacture catalytic converters at Johnson Matthey's Skopje plant, covered in the companion export data for this country, very plausibly move through London's trading infrastructure before arriving in North Macedonia. Precious metals like these typically change hands multiple times on international markets before reaching a factory floor. A UK-based trading desk recording the sale would show up in trade statistics as UK-origin even if the metal itself was mined somewhere else entirely. South Africa and Russia are the world's two largest platinum and palladium producers, yet neither appears prominently on this import partner list, a sign that London's trading role matters more here than the metal's original source.
The London Platinum and Palladium Market functions as the coordinating trade association for London's platinum and palladium trading activity, one of the world's principal hubs for these metals. Natural pearls, precious stones and precious metals supplied 10.09% of imports ($1.22 billion), North Macedonia's third-largest category, a figure consistent with substantial platinum-group-metal imports feeding that same catalyst manufacturing operation.
North Macedonia Imports the Fuel Its Old Refinery Used to Make
Mineral fuels led every import category at 13.00% of the total, worth $1.57 billion. North Macedonia sources roughly 85% of its petroleum products from Greece after its own OKTA refinery shut down, with the 213-kilometer Thessaloniki-Skopje pipeline, built in 2002, being reactivated to diversify and reduce that import dependence. Greece ranked third among North Macedonia's import partners overall at 9.36% ($1.13 billion), a relationship built substantially on this fuel trade. Landlocked North Macedonia has no domestic oil or gas production of its own, and its former OKTA refinery's closure left the country entirely dependent on refined product shipped in from neighboring economies with their own coastal refining capacity.
Automotive Components and a Concentrated Partner List Round Out the Picture
Electrical machinery supplied 12.37% of imports ($1.49 billion), the second-largest category. This likely reflects components imported for the same automotive assembly and wire-harness work that dominates North Macedonia's exports, covered in more depth in the companion export data for this country. Machinery added a further 6.35% ($766 million), and iron and steel contributed 4.78% ($576 million), both feeding the same industrial and construction base that drives much of the rest of this import list. Vehicles supplied 4.67% ($563 million), and plastics added 4.04% ($487 million).
Ceramic products contributed 3.96% ($478 million), an unusually large share for a country this size. The underlying data does not break out what specific tiles, sanitaryware or other ceramic goods drive that figure, so it is best treated as a data point rather than a fully explained story. Inorganic chemicals added 3.27% ($394 million), a category that may also connect to the catalyst manufacturing covered earlier, since some precious-metal compounds used in industrial catalysts fall under this classification rather than HS71. Pharmaceutical products closed out the top ten at 2.30% ($277 million), a category North Macedonia's own industry cannot supply at any meaningful scale.
Germany supplied 10.40% of imports ($1.25 billion), and China added 8.99% ($1.08 billion). Serbia contributed 6.95% ($838 million), and Turkey added 5.82% ($702 million). Italy supplied 4.44% ($535 million), and Bulgaria added 4.34% ($523 million). Poland contributed 3.14% ($378 million), and the USA rounded out the top ten at 2.22% ($267 million). Together, the UK, Germany and Greece made up 32.31% of total import value. That is a far less concentrated top three than the one seen on North Macedonia's export side. Import totals climbed unevenly over the past five years. The total fell from $9.45 billion in 2019 to $8.71 billion in 2020, then rebounded sharply to $11.39 billion in 2021 and $12.76 billion in 2022, before easing back to $12.05 billion in 2023.