Summary
- Share of its imports
- 17.1%
- Value imported
- $4.1billion
- Rank among its suppliers
- 2nd
- Products where it sells over 50%
- 99
- Products where it sells over 75%
- 16
- Dominated value
- $1.3billion
- Share of total imports
- 5.6%
Trend
Trend in shares
China went from 0.89% to 17.1% of what Costa Rica buys
Share (%)
- China 17.1%
Source: CEPII BACI
Show the numbers
| Year | Value (USD millions) | Share | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 32 | 0.89% | 21 |
| 1996 | 30 | 0.8% | 23 |
| 1997 | 50 | 1% | 18 |
| 1998 | 74 | 1.1% | 18 |
| 1999 | 88 | 1.5% | 15 |
| 2000 | 97 | 1.5% | 15 |
| 2001 | 109 | 1.6% | 13 |
| 2002 | 135 | 1.8% | 12 |
| 2003 | 171 | 2.2% | 10 |
| 2004 | 298 | 3.5% | 6 |
| 2005 | 384 | 4% | 7 |
| 2006 | 589 | 5% | 4 |
| 2007 | 781 | 5.9% | 2 |
| 2008 | 899 | 5.5% | 3 |
| 2009 | 572 | 6.1% | 3 |
| 2010 | 1,039 | 7.5% | 2 |
| 2011 | 1,585 | 8.8% | 2 |
| 2012 | 1,450 | 7.8% | 2 |
| 2013 | 1,784 | 9.6% | 2 |
| 2014 | 1,673 | 9.7% | 2 |
| 2015 | 1,883 | 12.3% | 2 |
| 2016 | 2,060 | 13.7% | 2 |
| 2017 | 2,148 | 13.3% | 2 |
| 2018 | 2,318 | 13.7% | 2 |
| 2019 | 2,138 | 13.6% | 2 |
| 2020 | 2,135 | 14.7% | 2 |
| 2021 | 2,971 | 16.1% | 2 |
| 2022 | 3,202 | 15.2% | 2 |
| 2023 | 3,435 | 15.1% | 2 |
| 2024 | 4,057 | 17.1% | 2 |
Products where China sells more than half
| Product | Supplier | Share | Second | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alloy steel sheet | China | 91%over 75% | South Korea · 4.3% | $109 million |
| Monitors and projectors | China | 61.9% | Mexico · 26.3% | $91 million |
| New tires | China | 70.1% | United States · 4.4% | $81 million |
| Cold-rolled flat steel | China | 56.2% | Japan · 43.1% | $72 million |
| Electric heaters and hair dryers | China | 70% | United States · 12.3% | $66 million |
| Motorcycles | China | 52.4% | India · 18.6% | $60 million |
| Air conditioners | China | 61.7% | United States · 24% | $51 million |
| Toys | China | 73.1% | United States · 11% | $50 million |
| Seats and chairs | China | 56.4% | United States · 18% | $46 million |
| Rubber and plastic footwear | China | 64.1% | Brazil · 7.8% | $43 million |
| Lamps and light fittings | China | 62.4% | United States · 20.5% | $40 million |
| Fish fillets | China | 60.1% | Chile · 27.6% | $36 million |
| Prepared fish and caviar | China | 53.3% | El Salvador · 30.3% | $34 million |
| Bags, suitcases and cases | China | 58% | United States · 16.9% | $34 million |
| Textile footwear | China | 62.1% | Vietnam · 12.3% | $30 million |
| Sports equipment | China | 70.8% | United States · 14.1% | $22 million |
| Metal hardware and fittings | China | 54.5% | United States · 16.8% | $20 million |
| Vacuum cleaners | China | 66.2% | United States · 12% | $19 million |
| Festive and Christmas articles | China | 83.7%over 75% | United States · 6.7% | $19 million |
| Synthetic filament fabric | China | 59.8% | Guatemala · 13.8% | $17 million |
| Aluminum bars and profiles | China | 66.3% | El Salvador · 10% | $16 million |
| Home appliances | China | 65.7% | United States · 22% | $16 million |
| Other knitted fabric | China | 63.4% | Colombia · 9.1% | $15 million |
| Steel wire rod | China | 66.9% | Malaysia · 27.2% | $14 million |
| Motorcycle and bicycle parts | China | 57.2% | United States · 10.6% | $12 million |
| Nitrogen heterocyclic compounds | China | 58.4% | India · 9.8% | $12 million |
| Steel kitchenware and household articles | China | 67.7% | United States · 14.1% | $11 million |
| Aluminum kitchenware and household articles | China | 77.9%over 75% | United States · 8.1% | $11 million |
| Padlocks, locks and keys | China | 58.8% | United States · 17.3% | $11 million |
| Onions and garlic | China | 63.9% | Peru · 23% | $10 million |
and 69 more
A product has a dominant supplier when a single country sells more than 50% of what is bought of it; we flag it separately above 75%.
Are there other suppliers in the world?
- China sells 16.4% of what the world exports of alloy steel sheet; next come Japan (14.7%), Germany (11%) and South Korea (7.9%). The rest of the world exported 241.6 times what Costa Rica buys from China.
- China sells 32.3% of what the world exports of monitors and projectors; next come Mexico (17.8%), Vietnam (7%) and Poland (5.6%). The rest of the world exported 507.2 times what Costa Rica buys from China.
- China sells 22.8% of what the world exports of new tires; next come Thailand (8%), Japan (6%) and Germany (5.3%). The rest of the world exported 948.6 times what Costa Rica buys from China.
- China sells 18.5% of what the world exports of cold-rolled flat steel; next come South Korea (14.8%), Japan (9.1%) and Belgium (6.6%). The rest of the world exported 182.2 times what Costa Rica buys from China.
- China sells 48% of what the world exports of electric heaters and hair dryers; next come Germany (5.9%), Italy (4.2%) and Mexico (4%). The rest of the world exported 527.4 times what Costa Rica buys from China.
- China sells 28.6% of what the world exports of motorcycles; next come Japan (10.4%), Germany (8.3%) and Thailand (8.3%). The rest of the world exported 440.4 times what Costa Rica buys from China.
- China sells 39.4% of what the world exports of air conditioners; next come Thailand (11.7%), Mexico (11.7%) and United States (4.2%). The rest of the world exported 808.1 times what Costa Rica buys from China.
- China sells 66.3% of what the world exports of toys; next come Vietnam (5.8%), Czechia (4.1%) and Mexico (2.6%). The rest of the world exported 402.4 times what Costa Rica buys from China.
- China sells 32.9% of what the world exports of seats and chairs; next come Mexico (9.8%), Vietnam (8.1%) and Poland (7.2%). The rest of the world exported 1,333.5 times what Costa Rica buys from China.
- China sells 50.6% of what the world exports of rubber and plastic footwear; next come Vietnam (16.4%), Indonesia (6%) and Germany (3.8%). The rest of the world exported 463.8 times what Costa Rica buys from China.
Exports from the rest of the world already have buyers; the figure shows scale, not availability.
Seen from China
Costa Rica is China’s 86th-largest customer, with 0.11% of its exports.
Sources and method
Sources and licenses
- CEPII BACI · Licence Ouverte Etalab 2.0
- Natural Earth · Public domain
Methodology
The data come from CEPII BACI (Etalab 2.0 licence), which reconciles what the exporting and the importing country report, in current USD, FOB. Data up to 2024.
Dependence is the share of a country’s imports (or exports) that each partner accounts for. It does not measure whether a product has a substitute or how much it would cost to change supplier.
The concentration index (HHI) adds up the square of each partner’s share, in percent: it runs from 0 to 10,000. Its equivalent is 10,000 ÷ HHI, the number of partners of the same size that would give that value.
Products are HS4 headings of the 1992 nomenclature (some combine different goods), with a floor of $1 million per product and country.
The EU is the 27 current members in every year; the United Kingdom is outside the EU throughout the series.
Re-exports: countries that act as redistribution hubs carry their notice and the figures are not corrected.