That dollar amount reflects a 52.3% increase compared to $8.96 billion for 2018.
From 2021 to 2022, the total value of Bolivian exported goods accelerated by 23.8% from $11 billion.
Best Bolivian International Trade Customers
The latest available country-specific data from shows that 85.7% of products exported from Bolivia were bought by importers in: India (16.5% of the Bolivian total), Brazil (13.9%), Argentina (12.8%), Colombia (7.8%), Japan (7.1%), Peru (6.2%), mainland China (5.8%), South Korea (3.9%), United Arab Emirates (3.7%), Ecuador (3.1%), United States of America (2.7%), then the Netherlands (2.2%).
From a continental perspective, 39% of Bolivia’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 46.3% was sold to importers in Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean. Bolivia shipped another 8.9% worth of goods to Europe.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in North America (4.4%), Oceania (1.4%) led by Australia, then Africa (0.04%).
Given Bolivia’s population of 12 million people, its total $13.65 billion worth of 2022 exports translates to roughly $1,150 for each resident in the South American country. That per-capita dollar amount represents an increase from the average $950 one year earlier in 2021.
Bolivia’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Bolivian global shipments during 2022 at the 2-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Bolivia.
- Gems, precious metals: US$3.2 billion (23.5% of total exports)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $3.1 billion (22.6%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $2.9 billion (20.9%)
- Food industry waste, animal fodder: $1.01 billion (7.4%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $1 billion (7.3%)
- Tin: $511.3 million (3.7%)
- Oil seeds: $453.5 million (3.3%)
- Fruits, nuts: $244.7 million (1.8%)
- Fertilizers: $224.6 million (1.6%)
- Meat: $179.1 million (1.3%)
Bolivia’s top 10 export groupings accounted for 93.6% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Fertilizers represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 444.1% from 2021 to 2022.
In second place for improving export sales were oil seeds shipped from Bolivia via a 183% advance.
Bolivia’s shipments of meat posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 88.2%.
The most modest increase among Bolivia’s top 10 export categories was for tin, flatlining with a 0.8% year-over-year upturn.
The above information is presented at the two-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level.
Drilling down to the more granular four-digit HTS codes, Bolivia’s most valuable export products are petroleum gases (22.3% of the Bolivian total) trailed by gold (22%), zinc ores and concentrates (13.3%), soya-bean oil cake plus other solid residues (7.2%), soya-bean oil (6.3%), precious metal ores and concentrates (5.5%), unprocessed tin (3.7%), soya beans (2.4%), Brazil nuts and to a lesser extent coconuts (1.4%), then nitrogenous fertilizers (also 1.4%).
Combined, those products accounted for 85.7% of overall Bolivian exports in 2022. Such a high percentage indicates that Bolivia offers a relatively concentrated portfolio of exported goods.
Products Generating Trade Surpluses for Bolivia
Bolivia incurred an overall $603.4 million trade surplus in 2022, reducing by -59% from the $1.47 billion in black ink one year earlier for 2021.
The following types of Bolivian product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Gems, precious metals: US$3.2 billion (Up by 11.2% since 2021)
- Ores, slag, ash: $2.9 billion (Up by 11.2%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $979.4 million (Up by 46.3%)
- Food industry waste, animal fodder: $948.2 million (Up by 39.6%)
- Tin: $511.3 million (Up by 0.8%)
- Oil seeds: $419.4 million (Up by 219.4%)
- Fruits, nuts: $223.9 million (Up by 29.7%)
- Meat: $174.6 million (Up by 91.7%)
- Fertilizers: $125.3 million (Reversing a -$38.9 million deficit)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $78.6 million (Up by 11.2%)
Bolivia has highly positive net exports in the international trade of gold and to a lesser degree silver and jewellery. In turn, these cashflows indicate Bolivia’s strong competitive advantages under the gems and precious metals category.
Products Causing Trade Deficits for Bolivia
Below are exports from Bolivia that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Bolivia’s goods trail Bolivian importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$1.32 billion (Reversing a $112.3 million surplus in 2021)
- Machinery including computers: -$1.31 billion (Up by 36.5% from 2021)
- Vehicles: -$1.1 billion (Up by 20.7%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$645.8 million (Up by 14.1%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$624.5 million (Up by 19.4%)
- Iron, steel: -$573.5 million (Up by 6%)
- Other chemical goods: -$467.5 million (Up by 30.6%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$259.8 million (Up by 11.1%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$245.7 million (Down by -3.5%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: -$245.5 million (Up by 38.6%)
Bolivia has highly negative net exports and therefore competitive disadvantages under the mineral fuels including oil (particularly refined petroleum oils) and machinery including computers.
Bolivian Export Companies
Not one Bolivian corporation ranks among companies listed by Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia lists some exports-related companies from Bolivia. Selected examples are shown below.
- Banco Mercantil Santa Cruz (financial services)
- Banco Nacional de Bolivia (financial services)
- Boliviana de Aviación (airlines)
- Línea Aérea Amaszonas (airlines)
- Transportes Aéreos Bolivianos (air cargo)
- YPFB (oil, gas)
In macroeconomic terms, Bolivia’s total exported goods represent 11.5% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2022 ($118.5 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 11.5% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2022 compares to 10.5% for 2021. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Bolivia’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Bolivia’s unemployment rate averaged 4.74% for 2022, down from an average 6.937% according to statistics from the International Monetary Fund.
Bolivia has two capital cities. La Paz is the de facto working capital, while Sucre is constitutionally the legal capital city.
See also Brazil’s Top 10 Imports, Bolivia’s Top Trade Partners, Brazil’s Top Trade Partners and Bolivia’s Top 10 Imports
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Imports – Commodities. Accessed on May 30, 2023
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on May 30, 2023
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on May 30, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 30, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 30, 2023
Wikipedia, Bolivia. Accessed on May 30, 2023
Wikipedia, Airlines of Bolivia. Accessed on May 30, 2023
Wikipedia, Category: Banks of Bolivia. Accessed on May 30, 2023
Wikipedia, Oil and Gas Companies of Bolivia. Accessed on May 30, 2023
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on May 30, 2023
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on May 30, 2023