The most valuable Bolivian imports also include refined petroleum oils, turbo-jets and insecticides. Smartphones are another area where Bolivian buyers shows strong domestic demand.
The following list shows on which products Bolivian importers spent the most. 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 in which Bolivia has strong demand perhaps competitive disadvantages compared with other nations. Innovation satisfying that demand can transform these disadvantages into lucrative business opportunities.
Highest Value Bolivian Import Products
Below are the 20 highest value import products delivered to Bolivian importers in 2017. Shown within brackets is the change in value for each imported product over the most recent 5-year period.
- Cars: US$355.5 million (Down -22.1% from 2013 to 2017)
- Trucks: $264.8 million (Down -17.2%)
- Public-transport vehicles: $233.5 million (Up 137.2%)
- Processed petroleum oils: $198.4 million (Down -83.8%)
- Iron or non-alloy steel bars, rods: $191.4 million (Down -15.4%)
- Lifting/loading machinery: $180.6 million (Up 201.3%)
- Packaged insecticides/fungicides/herbicides: $150.6 million (Down -38.7%)
- Phone system devices including smartphones: $139.9 million (Up 10.5%)
- Turbo-jets: $132.4 million (Up 4.8%)
- Other food preparations: $118.9 million (Up 20.5%)
- Rubber tires (new): $114.3 million (Up 12.1%)
- Heavy machinery (bulldozers, excavators, road rollers): $107.5 million (Down -50.2%)
- Automobile parts/accessories: $96.1 million (Up 45.8%)
- Medication mixes in dosage: $91.8 million (Down -22.6%)
- Wheat flour: $90.2 million (Up 113.2%)
- Miscellaneous iron and steel structures: $81.5 million (Up 158.2%)
- Tractors: $78.6 million (Down -59.4%)
- Insulated wire/cable: $65.5 million (Up 16.7%)
- Electrical converters/power units: $59.4 million (Up 50.8%)
- Computers, optical readers: $54.8 million (Down -3.2%)
Among these product categories, lifting or loading machinery posted the greatest increase in Bolivian import purchases with a 201.3% gain in value from 2013 to 2017.
In second place were imported miscellaneous iron and steel structures which appreciated 158.2% over the same 5-year period. Bolivian imports of public-transport vehicles also showed a respectable gain in 2017 up 137.2% from 2013, trailed by import purchases of wheat or meslin flour up 113.3%.
Leading the decliners were the South American country’s imports of processed petroleum oils (down -83.8%), tractors (down -59.4%), heavy machinery including bulldozers (down -50.2%) then packaged insecticides fungicides and herbicides (down -38.7%).
See also Bolivia’s Top Trading Partners, Bolivia’s Top 10 Imports 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: Imports 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