Gambia Major Imported Products and Countries 2014-2015

Gambia major export products
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The value of the Gambia’s total imports increased from 16.1 billion in 2014 to 17.2 billion in 2015 representing a rise of 6.6%. Asia, ECOWAS and the EU continued to be the main sources of Gambian imports representing 81% of total imports.

With this article, you will understand the major products, countries and sectors where other entrepreneurs are making sales, the opportunity to introduce a new product or even use them to back up your business analytical information.

Main Imported Products in the Gambia 2015

Petroleum products, cement and related products, vehicles and spare parts, rice and sugar were the main imported product in 2015. These products constituted 56.3% of total imported products.

Top 10 imported products in 2015

ProductsCIF Value (D'000)As % of total Imports
Petroleum Products3,220,62918.8
Cement and Related Products2,160,26112.6
Rice1,765,93310.3
Sugar1,290,6587.5
Vehicles and Spare Parts1,218,5337.1
Edible Oil905,7695.3
Others Cereals ( Mainly Wheat)536,5143.1
Electrical Machinery and Equipment and Parts505,8392.9
Products of the Milling Industry445,4532.6
Machinery and Mechanical Appliances and Parts410,6602.4
Pharmaceutical Products343,9512

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Imports by Region and Product

The EU

The main imported products from EU were vehicles and spare parts and cement and related products. These products are mainly from United Kingdom (19.9%), Spain (15.4%), France (12.8%) and Germany (12.2%).

Direction of imports from the EU by country in 2015

CountryCIF Value (D'000)As % of imports
United Kingdom805,04219.9
Spain621,35815.4
France516,39912.8
Germany493,41812.2
Netherlands462,04811.4
Belgium457,61411.3
Denmark201,9485
Poland142,9123.5
Latvia111,2402.8
Italy87,2652.2
Portugal47,2601.2
Others95,3332.4
Total EU4,041,838100

Main imported products from the EU in 2015

ProductsCIF Value (D'000)As % of imports from EU
Vehicles and Spare Parts711,82117.6
Cement and related Products409,24610.1
Products of the Milling industry318,8477.9
Printed books and Newspapers286,3397.1
Cereals( Mainly Wheat)262,5986.5
Pharmaceutical Products233,7295.8
Machinery and mechanical appliances and parts230,6055.7
Electrical Machinery and Equipment and Parts226,2025.6
Edible Vegetables and certain Roots and Tubers131,7783.3
Glass and Glassware131,3573.2
Dairy Products121,0843

ECOWAS Region

Petroleum products and cement were the main imported products mainly from Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal respectively. These two countries represent 98.7 % of the value of imports from ECOWAS and 31% of the value of total imports in 2015.

Direction of imports from ECOWAS by country in 2015

CountryCIF Value (D'000)As % of imports
Cote d'Ivoire3,070,18353.7
Senegal2,570,82345
Guinea33,6490.6
Nigeria19,3730.4
Ghana15,7040.3
Togo2,8570.1
Benin1,5540
Mali1,5210
Others3,1470.1
Total ECOWAS5,718,811100

Main imported products from ECOWAS in 2015

ProductsCIF Value (D'000)As % of imports
Petroleum Products3,137,19354.9
Cement and related Products1,723,96930.1
Cereals( Mainly Broken Rice)425,5497.4
Vehicles and Spare Parts68,8341.2
Wood and Articles of Wood53,5130.9
Electrical Machinery and Equipment and Parts49,6510.9
Tobacco Products36,5240.6
Edible Oil33,6310.6
Plastics and Articles thereof16,8500.3

Asia Region

The main sources of imports from Asia continued to be China (28.7%), Pakistan (14.7%), Malaysia (12.4%) and India (12%). These Countries constitute 67.8% of the value of imports from Asia and 16.7% of total imports.

The main imported products from Asia in 2015 were rice, accounting for 30% of total imports from Asia. Other imported products from Asia included edible oils and clothing and textiles.

Direction of imports from Asia by Country in 2015

CountryCIF Value (D'000)As % of imports
China1,211,83128.7
Pakistan621,84514.7
Malaysia524,33512.4
India505,73012
The United Arab Emirates349,9418.3
Indonesia264,6086.3
Thailand232,2365.5
Turkey146,5613.5
Singapore111,8732.6
Others254,3876
Total Asia4,223,348100

Main imported products from Asia in 2015

ProductsCIF Value (D'000)As % of imports from Asia
Rice971,66322.9
Edible Oil808,67719.1
Clothing and Textiles332,4957.8
Electrical Machinery & Equipment and Parts197,4804.7
Plastics and Articles thereof177,8114.2
Vehicles and Spare Parts148,9533.5
Dairy Products138,1923.3
Machinery and Mechanical Appliances and Parts131,4493.1
Iron and Steel118,5582.8
Preparations of Vegetables, Fruit and Nuts107,2242.5
Ceramic Products98,1992.3

The Americas

The main imported products were still sugar (48.7%) and rice (14.7%).

Direction of imports from the Americas by country in 2015

CountryCIF Value (D'000)As % of imports
Brazil1,621,65663.9
United States805,17031.7
Paraguay35,1791.4
Belize17,0850.7
Canada15,7050.6
Guadeloupe10,2110.4
Peru4,5000.2
Argentina1,0130
Others26,2411
Total Americas2,536,760100

Main imported products from the Americas in 2015

ProductsCIF Value (D'000)As % of imports from Americas
Sugar1,235,64048.7
Rice364,91014.4
Vehicles and Spare Parts240,0249.5
Meat and Edible Meat Offal198,8087.8
Ships, Boats and Floating Structures180,3167.1
Products of the Milling Industry124,2484.9
Electrical Machinery and Equipment and Parts26,1161
Machinery and Mechanical Appliances and Parts23,4080.9
Other made up Textile Articles22,3090.9
Dairy Products16,3230.6

Credited to Gambia Trade Information Centre

About Ebrima Sawaneh 118 Articles
My Name is Ebrima. I write about personal finance, small business, and The Gambia to support young people. I am an accountant, banker, and Amazon international bestselling author. Feel free to drop a message or download my free eBooks - HERE read

11 Comments

  1. Should the Gambia really import rice with land water sun and development aid freely available. ???
    The time is for work and getting out of our unrealistic dream world.
    The private sector can never develop our economy. The government must take charge of the production of basic goods to provide the necessary job creation.

    • You are right Lamin Jaiteh . Government policies should be directed toward infrastructure and agriculture. Imagine if we could reduce our defense budget for Agric. In The Gambia Agric department has the highest number of Phd holders !!

    • Both the agric and army departments have no functional use for the gambia apart from corruption and bringing death to defenceless gambians.
      Where is the need educating a century old farmer how to farm?? Which country will be coming to fight gambia that we needed a single military for?

      The government must go social rather than creating chances for few individuals to feed on poor people money.

      When they can imitate democracy why are they not imitating to provide each gambian social benefits?

      If yaya jammeh alone can loot $1.8billion how couldn’t they not have paid each gambian monthly social benefits?

    • Don’t tell me!
      We must create the chances we want.
      So long as we cannot pay social benefits,we cannot operate a free market economy too.
      That one person can loot $1.8billion should really tell you something.
      Social benefits we can pay actually.

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