Tonga - Foreign trade

Tonga suffers from chronic trade deficits. Vegetables, including squash, are Tonga's main export commodities (54%). Other exports include fish (15%), spices and vanilla (13%), and shellfish (3.8%).

In 1995 Tonga's imports were distributed among the following categories:

Consumer goods	13.8%
Food	25.0%
Fuels	12.3%
Industrial supplies	30.2%
Machinery	11.7%
Transportation	6.6%
Other	0.3%

Principal trading partners in 1998 (in millions of US dollars) were as follows:

COUNTRY	EXPORTS	IMPORTS	BALANCE
India	18	n.a.	n.a.
Japan	7	8	-1
United States	6	13	-7
Fiji	1	18	-17
Australia	1	10	-9
Samoa	1	n.a.	n.a.
United Kingdom	n.a.	2	n.a.
China (inc. Hong Kong)	n.a.	1	n.a.
New Zealand	n.a.	21	n.a.
Indonesia	n.a.	1	n.a.