How dependent is Thailand on Laos?

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%.

• Laos sells 3.7% of what the world exports of electricity; next come France (14%), Germany (6.8%) and Switzerland (6.1%). The rest of the world exported 28.4 times what Thailand buys from Laos.
• Laos sells 13.4% of what the world exports of cassava and other roots; next come Cambodia (22.8%), United States (7.1%) and Egypt (6.6%). The rest of the world exported 5.2 times what Thailand buys from Laos.
• Laos sells 0.38% of what the world exports of cement; next come Turkey (9.6%), Vietnam (9.5%) and Egypt (7.1%). The rest of the world exported 260.2 times what Thailand buys from Laos.
• Laos sells 0.34% of what the world exports of gravel and crushed stone; next come Norway (13.1%), China (10.2%) and Germany (7.8%). The rest of the world exported 289.8 times what Thailand buys from Laos.
• Laos sells 0.39% of what the world exports of bananas; next come Ecuador (28.3%), Colombia (10.9%) and Costa Rica (10.7%). The rest of the world exported 1,446.4 times what Thailand buys from Laos.
• Laos sells 0.05% of what the world exports of lignite; next come Indonesia (86.5%), Philippines (4.5%) and Russia (3.9%). The rest of the world exported 6,516 times what Thailand buys from Laos.

Exports from the rest of the world already have buyers; the figure shows scale, not availability.

Thailand is Laos’ 2nd-largest customer, with 31.4% of its exports.

• Trade between Thailand and Laos
• Who does Thailand rely on?
• Who does Laos rely on?
• Dependence of Thailand on China
• Dependence of Thailand on Taiwan
• Dependence of Thailand on Japan
• Dependence of Thailand on Brazil
• Dependence of Thailand on Indonesia
• Dependence of Thailand on France
• Dependence of Thailand on the United States
• Dependence of Thailand on Singapore
• Dependence of Thailand on Myanmar
• Trade profile of Thailand
• Trade profile of Laos
• All countries

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.