Andorra - Foreign trade

Owing to the large traffic of unaccounted goods across Andorra's borders, official statistics do not reflect the true volume of transactions. Of recorded trade, close to half is with Spain and over one-quarter with France. The majority of imports consist of consumer goods sold to visitors. Reported imports exceed recorded exports by more than 22:1.

A customs union with the EC (now the EU) took effect in 1991, allowing industrial goods to pass between Andorra and EC members under a uniform customs tariff. The EU's external tariffs are to be applied by Andorra to its trade with non-EU members.

In 2000 Andorra's imports were distributed among the following categories:

Consumer goods	45.5%
Food	16.7%
Fuels	10.1%
Industrial supplies	12.2%
Machinery	8.8%
Transportation	9.9%
Other	1.4%

Principal trading partners in 2000 (in millions of US dollars) were as follows:

COUNTRY	EXPORTS	IMPORTS	BALANCE
Spain	27.4	489.4	-462
France	11.9	269.7	-257.8
China (inc. Hong Kong)	11.1	13.1	-2
Switzerland	0.2	20.5	-20.3
Germany	0.7	44.9	-44.2
United States	0.5	17.8	-17.3
Italy	0.2	41.4	-41.2
Belgium	0.1	6.0	-5.9
Japan	n.a.	31.4
United Kingdom	n.a.	25.2