Madagascar - Foreign trade



Madagascar consistently runs a trade deficit. Exports consist mainly of unprocessed agricultural products and some extracted minerals. Textiles are Madagascar's major export commodity (29%), followed by spices (14%), coffee (7.1%), and gemstones (6.5%). Other exports include preserved fruit (4.4%) and shellfish (4.1%).

Refined petroleum products were formerly imported in large quantities, but development of domestic refinery capacity altered this pattern. Madagascar now exports a small amount of petroleum products to East Africa and to other Indian Ocean islands. Crude petroleum still must be imported. In 1999 Madagascar's imports were distributed among the following categories:

Madagascar

Consumer goods 11.3%
Food 12.8%
Fuels 23.9%
Industrial supplies 22.9%
Machinery 15.4%
Transportation 12.3%
Other 1.6%

Principal trading partners in 1999 (in millions of US dollars) were as follows:

Madagascar

COUNTRY EXPORTS IMPORTS BALANCE
France 88 105 -17
Singapore 17 7 10
Germany 15 24 -9
United States 13 15 -2
Italy 12 8 4
Mauritius 9 6 3
China (inc. Hong Kong) 6 35 -29
United Kingdom 5 9 -4
Japan 3 26 -23
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