NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The value of commodities imported into The Bahamas in 2022 totaled $3.8 billion – just over 10 percent more than the 2021 total.
The Bahamas National Statistical Institute in its 2022 Foreign Trade Figures providing data on the volume and nature of trade between The Bahamas and its trading partners noted that estimates on external or foreign trade show that during the year 2022 the value of commodities imported into The Bahamas totaled $3.8 billion dollars, resulting in a 10.3 percent increase over 2021’s total of $3.5 billion.
Food and live animals the largest contributor to imports, totaled some $690 million (or 18 percent of all imports). This was followed closely by the category of Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and related materials which accounted for 17.9 percent or $686 million.
Other categories that contributed significantly to total imports were Machinery and Transport Equipment which totaled for nearly $685 million (17.8 percent of total imports) and Miscellaneous Manufactured Articles which accounted for almost $520 million or nearly 13.5 percent of total imports.
The report also noted that total exports (domestic and re-exports) for 2022 totaled $585.9 million. Domestic exports ($180 million) accounted for 30.7 percent of total exports while re-exports ($406 million) accounted for 69.3 percent.
The major categories of domestic exports consisted mainly of food and live animals totalling &106.9 million (59.4 percent of total domestic exports), and Crude Minerals totalling $33.1 million 18.4 percent of total domestic export.
Mineral Fuels ($161 million) and manufactured goods ($118 million) together represented 68.9 percent of re-exports accounting for 39.7 percent and 29.2 percent respectively.
The United States maintained its position as The Bahamas’ number one trading partner. The report noted that while The Bahamas did a significant amount of trade with China, Spain, Japan and Canada, the United States still represented 85 percent of total imports and about 67 percent of exports.
