Annual External Trade Statistics Review of the Gambia - 2014

ANNUAL EXTERNAL TRADE STATISTICS REVIEW OF THE GAMBIA - 2014

Table of Content

1. OVERVIEW OF THE GAMBIA’S EXTERNAL TRADE

2. DIRECTION OF IMPORTS

2.1 The EU

2.3 ECOWAS Region

2.3 Asia Region

2.4 The Americas

2.5 Main imported products

3. DIRECTION OF EXPORT

3.1The ECOWAS Region

3.2 The Asia Region

3.3 The EU Region

3.4 The Americas

3.5 Main domestically exported products

1.OVERVIEW OF THE GAMBIA’S EXTERNAL TRADE

The total value of The Gambia’s annual external trade for the year 2014 indicates an increase by 22% compared to 2013. The total external trade figure increased from D16.2 billion in 2013 to D19.8 billion in 2014. This increment in total trade is attributed to an increase in the demand of goods, especially petroleum products and the increase in the re-export trade up by 18.4% and 8.5% respectively. The total imports values for the period under review have gone up by 29.9% while that of total exports by 13.2%. The increase in exports is attributed to the growing of re-export trade within the ECOWAS region. It also shows signs of a recovery from the 2011/2012 droughts.

Domestic exports for the period have risen from D427 million in 2013 to D657 million in 2014 up by 54% this is due to the increase in the exports of timber.

Table 1.1: Summary of The Gambia’s external trade in D’ 000

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

Note: The average exchange rate for 1$ is D45.5 in 2014

The share of exports as a percentage of total trade decreased from 24% in 2013 to 22% in 2014. Domestic exports represented 16% of the total exports in 2014 against 11% in 2013, but this only accounts for 4% of total external trade in 2014.

Imports accounts for 82% of total trade in 2014 compared to 77% in 2013, while re-exports accounts for 19% of total trade in 2014 compared to 21% in 2013.

Figure 1: Gambia’s import and export flows (2011 – 2014)

The values of the monthly imports have been consistently high above D800 million, with the highest recorded in June 2014. The value of imports in June 2014 reached D1.62 billion before dropping to a minimum of D1billion in November. In December, the value increased to just over D1.2 billion. The trend of the monthly imports for 2014 is shown in figure 2 below.

Figure 2: Monthly imports - 2014

The performance of domestic exports has been weak in 2014 with most of the monthly exports being below the average of D54 million, though this figure represents an improvement from the average of D35.6 million in 2013. The value of domestic exports for 2014were highest in June (D73.5 million), August (D99.6 million) and October (D88.2 million). The monthly performance of re-exports has been relatively much stronger than the domestic exports with an average monthly re-exports of D305 million. The value of monthly re-exports were highest in February and Septemberat D497.6 million and D448.5 million respectively. Figure 3 below shows the monthly performance of domestic exports and re-exports in 2013.

Table 1.3: Monthly Domestic exports and Re-exports (D’000) - 2014

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

Figure 3: Monthly Domestic Exports and Re-exports - 2014

2. DIRECTION OF IMPORTS

The value of The Gambia’s total imports increased from 12.4 billion in 2013 to D16.1 billion in 2014 representing a rise of 30%. The main imported products in 2014 are petroleum, rice, vehicle & spare parts, sugar, edible oils, electrical products, clothing & textiles and pharmaceutical products.

Asia, ECOWAS and the EU are the main sources of Gambian imports for the period under review. The share of imports from the EU region increased slightly from 22% in 2013 to 24% in 2014. The share of imports from ECOWAS region dropped slightly from 30% in 2013 to 26% in 2014 while imports from Asia remained strong at 31% of total imports in 2014.

Table 2.1 and figure 4 below show the direction and share of imports by region in 2013respectively.

Table 2.1: Direction of imports by region (D'000)

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

Figure 4:

2.1 The EU

The value of imports from EU increased from D2.8 billion in 2013 to D3.9 billion in 2014, up by 43%. The share of imports from the EU thus increased from 22% in 2013 to 24% in 2014.The key imported products from the EU are cereals, vehicles &spare parts, machinery, electrical appliance and pharmaceutical products mainly from France, Belgium, The United Kingdom, Netherlands and Spain representing79% of the total value of imports from EU and 19% of the total imports in 2014. As a percentage of imports from EU, France accounts for (21.2%), the kingdom of Belgium (20.9%), United Kingdom (16%), and Netherlands (11.6%).

Table 2.2: Direction of imports from the EU by country in 2014

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

Table 2.3: Main imported products from the EU in 2014

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

2.3 ECOWAS Region

The ECOWAS region continues to be a strong import market for Gambia although the share of imports from the region has dropped from 30% in 2013 to 26%in 2014. Imports from the ECOWAS region are mainly petroleum products, which constituted 82% of the value of total imports from ECOWAS in 2014. The value of imports from ECOWAS region increased slightly from D3.7 billion in 2013 to D3.9 billion in 2014partly due to an increase in the value of imports of petroleum products which increased from D2.9 billion in 2013 to D3.5 billion in 2014.

Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal continued to be the main source of Gambian imports, which are mainly petroleum products and cement respectively. These two countries accounts for 97% of the value of imports from ECOWAS and 24% of the value of total imports in 2014.

Table 2.4: Direction of imports from ECOWAS by country in 2014

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

Table 2.5: Main imported products from ECOWAS in 2014

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

2.3Asia Region

The value of imports from Asia and the Middle East increased from D3.86 billion in 2013 to D4.9 billion in 2014. The share of imports from this region remains the same compared to 2013 at 31% of total imports. This is mainly due to strong imports of essential commodities such as edible oil, rice, machinery and electrical equipment. The main sources of imports from Asia in 2014are China, India and Malaysia accounting for 27.1%, 20.8%, and 15% respectively. Thesecountries constitute 62.9% of the value of imports from the Asian region.

The main importedproducts from Asia in 2014 include edible oils (22.7%), and rice (20.2%) and electrical machinery & equipment (10.4%).The direction of imports and the main imported products from Asiaare shown in tables2.6 and 2.7below respectively.

Table 2.6: Direction of imports from Asia by Country in 2014

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

Table 2.7: Main imported products from Asia in 2014

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

2.4 The Americas

The total value of imports from the Americas in 2014 increased from D1.6 billion in 2013to D2.2 billion in 2014representing an increase of 37.5%. This increase is due to strong imports of rice and sugar from Brazil and wheat and rice from the United States.The main imported products from the Americascontinue to be sugar (47.6%) and rice(35.3%).

The main sources of imports from the Americasin 2013 are Brazil (79.3%) and theUnited States (11.4%) accounting for 91% of the value of imports from the Americas and 13% of total imports.

The direction of imports and the main imports from the Americas are shown in tables 2.8 and 2.9 below.

Table 2.8: Direction of imports from Americas by country in 2014

Table 2.9: Main imported products from the Americas in 2014

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

2.5 Top 10 Main imported products in 2014

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

3. DIRECTION OF EXPORT

The value of The Gambia’s total exports increased from D3.8 billion in 2013 to D4.3 billion in 2014 representing an increase of 14%. This increment resulted from an increase in the value of re-export to the ECOWAS region. The value of re-export increased from D3.3 billion in 2013 to D3.9 billion in 2014 indicating an increase of 17.4%. The main exported products in 2014 are timber (mainly logs) and wood products, cashew, fish and fishery products, groundnut products, fruits and vegetables, iron and steel.

The ECOWAS Region, Asia and the EU are the main export markets for Gambian products for the period under review. The share of exports to Asia dropped slightly compared to 2013 from 8% to 5%. The share of export to the EU region increased from 2% in 2013 to 3% in 2014. The share of exports to ECOWAS region is still high increasing further from 88% in 2013 to 91% in 2014 mainly consisting of re-exports trade to the sub-region.

Table 3.1 and figure 5 below show the direction and share of exports by region in 2014 respectively.

Table 3.1: Direction of exports by region (D’000)

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

Figure 5

3.1The ECOWAS Region

Table 3.2 and 3.3 below show the direction of export to ECOWAS by country and main export products in 2014 respectively. The ECOWAS regional market continues to be the main destination of the Gambia’s re-exportsaccounting for 91% of the value of total export in 2014 compared to 88% in 2013.The main re-exported products to the ECOWAS region are textiles, wood and articles of wood, machinery and mechanicals appliance, vehicle parts, preparation of meat and dairy products among others. Textiles constituted 66.6% of the value of total export to ECOWAS in 2014.

Mali, Senegal, Guinea and Guinea Bissau are the main countries of Gambian exports in the ECOWAS region. These countries constitute99.8% of the value of Gambia’s export to region in 2014.

Table 3.2: Direction of exports to ECOWAS by country in 2014

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

Table 3.3: Main re-exported products to ECOWAS in 2014

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

3.2The Asia Region

Table 3.4 and 3.5 below show the direction of the Gambia’s exports to Asia and the main exported products to the Asian market respectively. The total value of exports to Asia dropped by 34% from D311.4 million in 2013 to D205.5 million in 2014 due to the low export of groundnut in to this market compared to last year. The share of total exports decreased from 8% in 2013 to 5% in 2014. The main exported products to this market are cashew nuts, wood and article of woods, iron and steel and fishery products. Cashew nut exports constitute the highestvalue at D150 million representing 73% of all the products exported to Asia.

The main export markets in Asia are India, China, Vietnamand United Arab Emirates accounting for 69.8%, 10.4%, 9.8%, and 3.6% respectively. Thesecountries constitute 93.6% of the value of exports to Asian market in 2014.

Table 3.4: Direction of exports to Asia by country in 2014

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

Table 3.5: Main exported products to Asia in 2014

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

3.3 The EU Region

The value of exports to EU has significantly increased from D83.2million in 2013 to D143.09 million in 2014, up by 73%. This is partly attributed to the increase in the export of cashew nuts to the EU. The share of exports to the EU increased from 2% in 2013 to 3% in 2014. The top three exported products to the EU are Fish and fisheries products, cashew nuts and groundnuts. These three products account for 73.1% of all the Gambian products exported to EU.

United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany and Spain are the main export markets in the EU representing 23.7% for UK, 19.8% for Netherlands, 14.9% for Germany and 12.2% for Spain. Tables 3.6 and 3.7 below indicate the direction of export to EU by Country and the main exported products to the EU market respectively.

Table 3.6: Direction of exports to the EU by country in 2014

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

Table 3.7: Main exported products to the EU in 2014

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

3.4The Americas

The total value of exports to the Americas is still low at D6.4 million in 2014. However, this represents a 30.9% improvement compared to the 2013 values due to the increase in the export of cashew nuts mainly to panama. The main exported products are cashew nuts, fish and fisheries products and soap. These three products account for 75.8% of all the Gambia’s exports to the Americas. The main export markets are panama (68.1%), United State (30.4) and Brazil (1.5%)

The direction of imports and the main imports from the Americas are shown in tables 2.8 and 2.9 below.

Table 3.8: Direction of exports to the Americas by country in 2014

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

Table 3.9: Main exported products to Americas in 2014

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

3.5 Main domestically exported products

Table 3.10 below shows the main domestically exported products in 2014. Cashew nuts became the top domestically exported products from the Gambia representing 61.2% of total domestic export. This is followed by fish and fisheries products (22.9%) and then ground nuts and related products (6.4%).

Table 3.10

Source: MOTIE Trade Information Centre

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