The most valuable Bolivian exports include gold, jewelry and silver. Zinc, lead and tin also appear among Bolivia’s highest value exports.
The following list showcases product categories for which Bolivian exporters generated the most revenue. Unlike most information currently available on the web, the items below are detailed at the 4-digit tariff code level.
This can help entrepreneurs identify more precisely which products for which Bolivia enjoys strong demand and competitive advantages compared with other nations. Innovation can transform these insights into lucrative business opportunities.
Highest Value Bolivian Export Products
Below are the 20 highest value export products delivered to Bolivia’s international customers in 2017. Shown within brackets is the year-over-year change in value for each exported product.
- Petroleum gases: US$2.5 billion (up 18.9% since 2016)
- Zinc ores, concentrates: $831.5 million (down -15.4%)
- Gold (unwrought): $623.4 million (down -16.1%)
- Soya-bean oil-cake, other solid residues: $517.2 million (down -5.9%)
- Lead ores, concentrates: $395.6 million (up 146.6%)
- Soya-bean oil: $312.4 million (up 10.9%)
- Unwrought tin: $258.5 million (down -12.3%)
- Precious metal ores, concentrates: $228.8 million (down -64.8%)
- Coconuts, Brazil/cashew nuts: $223.7 million (up 22.4%)
- Jewelry: $139 million (down -7.7%)
- Buckwheat, millet, canary seeds: $86.4 million (up 5.7%)
- Silver (unwrought): $83.7 million (down -23%)
- Ethyl alcohol: $54.9 million (up 14.6%)
- Bananas, plantains: $50.6 million (up 48.5%)
- Natural borates, concentrates: $49.2 million (up 36.7%)
- Oil seeds: $38.5 million (up 8.8%)
- Copper ores, concentrates: $34.3 million (up 16.8%)
- Crude oil: $34.3 million (down -51%)
- Sun/safflower/cotton-seed oil: $31.8 million (up 8.6%)
- Tungsten ores, concentrates: $27.6 million (up 91.6%)
Among these top product categories, exported lead posted the greatest increase in Bolivian export sales up 146.6% from 2016 to 2017 trailed by a 91.6% appreciation for tungsten, a 48.5% gain for bananas including plantains and a 36.7% improvement for natural borates and concentrates.
Leading the decliners were precious metal ores and concentrates (down -64.8%), crude oil (down -51%), silver (down -23%) then gold (down -16.1%).
See also Bolivia’s Top 10 Exports, Bolivia’s Top Trading Partners and Capital Facts for La Pas and Sucre, Bolivia
Research Sources:
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on June 23, 2018
The World Factbook, Field Listing: Exports and World Population, Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed on June 23, 2018
Trade Map, International Trade Centre, www.intracen.org/marketanalysis. Accessed on June 23, 2018