Summary
- Share of its imports
- 15.6%
- Value imported
- $5.9billion
- Rank among its suppliers
- 1st
- Products where it sells over 50%
- 127
- Products where it sells over 75%
- 26
- Dominated value
- $1.8billion
- Share of total imports
- 4.8%
Trend
Trend in shares
China went from 3.5% to 15.6% of what Panama buys
Share (%)
- China 15.6%
Source: CEPII BACI
Show the numbers
| Year | Value (USD millions) | Share | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 490 | 3.5% | 5 |
| 1996 | 390 | 2.7% | 6 |
| 1997 | 736 | 5% | 4 |
| 1998 | 544 | 3.8% | 4 |
| 1999 | 577 | 3.8% | 4 |
| 2000 | 650 | 4.7% | 4 |
| 2001 | 640 | 5.3% | 4 |
| 2002 | 550 | 4.8% | 4 |
| 2003 | 626 | 4.9% | 4 |
| 2004 | 776 | 5.1% | 5 |
| 2005 | 986 | 5.7% | 4 |
| 2006 | 2,903 | 11.6% | 2 |
| 2007 | 3,611 | 12.1% | 2 |
| 2008 | 4,035 | 10.4% | 3 |
| 2009 | 4,133 | 10.4% | 3 |
| 2010 | 8,675 | 18.1% | 2 |
| 2011 | 9,188 | 18.2% | 2 |
| 2012 | 9,194 | 17.5% | 2 |
| 2013 | 6,566 | 14.8% | 2 |
| 2014 | 6,225 | 15.8% | 2 |
| 2015 | 6,193 | 19% | 1 |
| 2016 | 4,355 | 15.1% | 2 |
| 2017 | 5,376 | 16.8% | 2 |
| 2018 | 5,350 | 16% | 2 |
| 2019 | 5,971 | 17.7% | 2 |
| 2020 | 4,182 | 16.8% | 2 |
| 2021 | 2,602 | 9.2% | 4 |
| 2022 | 4,500 | 11.2% | 5 |
| 2023 | 3,217 | 9.7% | 5 |
| 2024 | 5,899 | 15.6% | 1 |
Products where China sells more than half
| Product | Supplier | Share | Second | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cameras and broadcast equipment | China | 61.1% | United States · 26.2% | $187 million |
| Computer and office machine parts | China | 55% | United States · 24.7% | $115 million |
| Diodes, transistors and solar cells | China | 92%over 75% | Spain · 3% | $105 million |
| Cranes | China | 88.7%over 75% | United States · 4.9% | $84 million |
| Transformers and power supplies | China | 55.8% | Colombia · 9.4% | $82 million |
| Bags, suitcases and cases | China | 69.3% | United States · 5.8% | $66 million |
| Coated flat steel | China | 82.2%over 75% | Hong Kong · 6% | $65 million |
| T-shirts | China | 71.6% | United States · 4.4% | $60 million |
| New tires | China | 58.1% | Brazil · 6% | $57 million |
| Batteries | China | 63% | South Korea · 9% | $57 million |
| Steel structures | China | 53% | Mexico · 16.1% | $56 million |
| Seats and chairs | China | 66.4% | United States · 6.3% | $49 million |
| Women's suits and dresses | China | 55.7% | United States · 18.6% | $47 million |
| Monitors and projectors | China | 65.2% | Mexico · 18.2% | $45 million |
| Men's suits and trousers | China | 62% | Pakistan · 8.8% | $39 million |
| Air conditioners | China | 57.2% | United States · 20% | $38 million |
| Valves and taps | China | 55.8% | United States · 16.7% | $32 million |
| Toys | China | 80.4%over 75% | United States · 8.7% | $31 million |
| Rubber and plastic footwear | China | 56% | United States · 11.2% | $28 million |
| Welded steel pipes | China | 82.8%over 75% | South Korea · 5.7% | $27 million |
| Aluminum sheet | China | 88.5%over 75% | Italy · 4.1% | $25 million |
| Vacuum cleaners | China | 74.4% | Malaysia · 8.4% | $22 million |
| Phones and telecom equipment | China | 76.2%over 75% | United States · 5.3% | $21 million |
| Electric heaters and hair dryers | China | 67.1% | United States · 16.8% | $19 million |
| Steel angles and sections | China | 55.6% | Singapore · 19.8% | $19 million |
| Sports equipment | China | 58.9% | United States · 13.2% | $16 million |
| Generating sets | China | 57.3% | United States · 8.3% | $15 million |
| Non-electric stoves, cookers and barbecues | China | 59.9% | Mexico · 17% | $14 million |
| Textile footwear | China | 53.1% | United States · 8% | $13 million |
| Plastic building fittings | China | 54.2% | United States · 9.4% | $12 million |
and 97 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 46.2% of what the world exports of cameras and broadcast equipment; next come Vietnam (13.1%), Taiwan (4.4%) and India (4.3%). The rest of the world exported 1,812.3 times what Panama buys from China.
- China sells 30.3% of what the world exports of computer and office machine parts; next come Taiwan (15%), Vietnam (10.6%) and South Korea (7.3%). The rest of the world exported 1,941.4 times what Panama buys from China.
- China sells 39.2% of what the world exports of diodes, transistors and solar cells; next come Malaysia (8.6%), Japan (7.4%) and Vietnam (5.9%). The rest of the world exported 776.9 times what Panama buys from China.
- China sells 34.4% of what the world exports of cranes; next come Germany (12.3%), Japan (8.2%) and Italy (7.4%). The rest of the world exported 136.6 times what Panama buys from China.
- China sells 34.6% of what the world exports of transformers and power supplies; next come Germany (7%), Mexico (4.5%) and Japan (3.9%). The rest of the world exported 1,215.1 times what Panama buys from China.
- China sells 37.2% of what the world exports of bags, suitcases and cases; next come Italy (14.9%), France (14.7%) and Vietnam (6%). The rest of the world exported 752.6 times what Panama buys from China.
- China sells 27.6% of what the world exports of coated flat steel; next come South Korea (10.3%), Germany (7.2%) and Belgium (4.8%). The rest of the world exported 645 times what Panama buys from China.
- China sells 17.1% of what the world exports of t-shirts; next come Bangladesh (17.8%), Vietnam (6.4%) and Turkey (6.3%). The rest of the world exported 663.9 times what Panama 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 1,349.2 times what Panama buys from China.
- China sells 50.8% of what the world exports of batteries; next come South Korea (6.1%), United States (5.4%) and Poland (5.4%). The rest of the world exported 1,329.4 times what Panama buys from China.
Exports from the rest of the world already have buyers; the figure shows scale, not availability.
Seen from China
Panama is China’s 69th-largest customer, with 0.16% of its exports.
Links
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.