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
Products CIF Value (D'000) As % of total Imports
Petroleum Products 3,220,629 18.8
Cement and Related Products 2,160,261 12.6
Rice 1,765,933 10.3
Sugar 1,290,658 7.5
Vehicles and Spare Parts 1,218,533 7.1
Edible Oil 905,769 5.3
Others Cereals ( Mainly Wheat) 536,514 3.1
Electrical Machinery and Equipment and Parts 505,839 2.9
Products of the Milling Industry 445,453 2.6
Machinery and Mechanical Appliances and Parts 410,660 2.4
Pharmaceutical Products 343,951 2
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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
Country CIF Value (D'000) As % of imports
United Kingdom 805,042 19.9
Spain 621,358 15.4
France 516,399 12.8
Germany 493,418 12.2
Netherlands 462,048 11.4
Belgium 457,614 11.3
Denmark 201,948 5
Poland 142,912 3.5
Latvia 111,240 2.8
Italy 87,265 2.2
Portugal 47,260 1.2
Others 95,333 2.4
Total EU 4,041,838 100
Main imported products from the EU in 2015
Products CIF Value (D'000) As % of imports from EU
Vehicles and Spare Parts 711,821 17.6
Cement and related Products 409,246 10.1
Products of the Milling industry 318,847 7.9
Printed books and Newspapers 286,339 7.1
Cereals( Mainly Wheat) 262,598 6.5
Pharmaceutical Products 233,729 5.8
Machinery and mechanical appliances and parts 230,605 5.7
Electrical Machinery and Equipment and Parts 226,202 5.6
Edible Vegetables and certain Roots and Tubers 131,778 3.3
Glass and Glassware 131,357 3.2
Dairy Products 121,084 3
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
Country CIF Value (D'000) As % of imports
Cote d'Ivoire 3,070,183 53.7
Senegal 2,570,823 45
Guinea 33,649 0.6
Nigeria 19,373 0.4
Ghana 15,704 0.3
Togo 2,857 0.1
Benin 1,554 0
Mali 1,521 0
Others 3,147 0.1
Total ECOWAS 5,718,811 100
Main imported products from ECOWAS in 2015
Products CIF Value (D'000) As % of imports
Petroleum Products 3,137,193 54.9
Cement and related Products 1,723,969 30.1
Cereals( Mainly Broken Rice) 425,549 7.4
Vehicles and Spare Parts 68,834 1.2
Wood and Articles of Wood 53,513 0.9
Electrical Machinery and Equipment and Parts 49,651 0.9
Tobacco Products 36,524 0.6
Edible Oil 33,631 0.6
Plastics and Articles thereof 16,850 0.3
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
Country CIF Value (D'000) As % of imports
China 1,211,831 28.7
Pakistan 621,845 14.7
Malaysia 524,335 12.4
India 505,730 12
The United Arab Emirates 349,941 8.3
Indonesia 264,608 6.3
Thailand 232,236 5.5
Turkey 146,561 3.5
Singapore 111,873 2.6
Others 254,387 6
Total Asia 4,223,348 100
Main imported products from Asia in 2015
Products CIF Value (D'000) As % of imports from Asia
Rice 971,663 22.9
Edible Oil 808,677 19.1
Clothing and Textiles 332,495 7.8
Electrical Machinery & Equipment and Parts 197,480 4.7
Plastics and Articles thereof 177,811 4.2
Vehicles and Spare Parts 148,953 3.5
Dairy Products 138,192 3.3
Machinery and Mechanical Appliances and Parts 131,449 3.1
Iron and Steel 118,558 2.8
Preparations of Vegetables, Fruit and Nuts 107,224 2.5
Ceramic Products 98,199 2.3
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
Country CIF Value (D'000) As % of imports
Brazil 1,621,656 63.9
United States 805,170 31.7
Paraguay 35,179 1.4
Belize 17,085 0.7
Canada 15,705 0.6
Guadeloupe 10,211 0.4
Peru 4,500 0.2
Argentina 1,013 0
Others 26,241 1
Total Americas 2,536,760 100
Main imported products from the Americas in 2015
Products CIF Value (D'000) As % of imports from Americas
Sugar 1,235,640 48.7
Rice 364,910 14.4
Vehicles and Spare Parts 240,024 9.5
Meat and Edible Meat Offal 198,808 7.8
Ships, Boats and Floating Structures 180,316 7.1
Products of the Milling Industry 124,248 4.9
Electrical Machinery and Equipment and Parts 26,116 1
Machinery and Mechanical Appliances and Parts 23,408 0.9
Other made up Textile Articles 22,309 0.9
Dairy Products 16,323 0.6
Credited to Gambia Trade Information Centre
the gate is open for all investors so u welcome in the smiling coast
That’s why we going backward
Gambia import many things that we can actually export.
We do export few things but our import always higher than export. That is one of the reasons dalasi depreciate against USD which in turn leads to higher prices.
yea u ar right pal
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?
We have change,yes ,but I see no objectivity yet!
Lamin Jaiteh Interesting comments. However, at the moment Gambia does not have the wealth to paid 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.