Trade lanes

What Ethiopia buys, and from whom.

Ethiopia imported USD 6.2bn of manufactured and processed goods in 2024, down 43 per cent on 2022. These are its twenty largest source countries. 1 of them ship enough, across enough product lines, to have a lane page of their own.

Trade year 2024, compared with 2022.

By source

The twenty countries Ethiopia imports most from.

A lane page is written where the source ships USD 1bn or more a year across at least 50 product lines worth USD 1m each. For what Ethiopia is best placed to make itself, see Made here: Ethiopia.

  1. 1

    China

    Share of Ethiopia's imports49 per cent
    Changedown 26 per cent on 2022
    USD 3.0bnin 2024
  2. 2

    India

    Share of Ethiopia's imports7 per cent
    Changedown 57 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 428min 2024
  3. 3

    United Kingdom

    Share of Ethiopia's imports6 per cent
    Changedown 28 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 378min 2024
  4. 4

    United States

    Share of Ethiopia's imports5 per cent
    Changedown 10 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 328min 2024
  5. 5

    Turkey

    Share of Ethiopia's imports3 per cent
    Changedown 45 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 180min 2024
  6. 6

    Italy

    Share of Ethiopia's imports3 per cent
    Changedown 25 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 171min 2024
  7. 7

    France

    Share of Ethiopia's imports3 per cent
    Changedown 12 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 154min 2024
  8. 8

    South Korea

    Share of Ethiopia's imports2 per cent
    Changeup 2 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 144min 2024
  9. 9

    Belgium

    Share of Ethiopia's imports2 per cent
    Changedown 54 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 133min 2024
  10. 10

    Germany

    Share of Ethiopia's imports2 per cent
    Changedown 20 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 130min 2024
  11. 11

    Malaysia

    Share of Ethiopia's imports2 per cent
    Changeup 159 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 120min 2024
  12. 12

    Kenya

    Share of Ethiopia's imports2 per cent
    Changedown 9 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 91min 2024
  13. 13

    Egypt

    Share of Ethiopia's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 84 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 86min 2024
  14. 14

    Netherlands

    Share of Ethiopia's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 66 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 83min 2024
  15. 15

    Indonesia

    Share of Ethiopia's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 37 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 74min 2024
  16. 16

    Japan

    Share of Ethiopia's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 82 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 49min 2024
  17. 17

    Thailand

    Share of Ethiopia's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 57 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 49min 2024
  18. 18

    Saudi Arabia

    Share of Ethiopia's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 77 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 39min 2024
  19. 19

    Spain

    Share of Ethiopia's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 19 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 35min 2024
  20. 20

    Ireland

    Share of Ethiopia's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 15 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 28min 2024
What this record says

What crossed the border, what it was worth, and what it weighed.

Every figure on this page is from CEPII's BACI file, which reconciles what each pair of countries reports to the UN about the same shipment. Trade year 2024, compared with 2022. A line is one six-digit customs heading (HS 2022). Values are in US dollars at the border; growth is in current dollars, so part of any change is price, not volume.

Unit value. Unit values are customs values per tonne, declared at the border, not product prices. It is the value of a line divided by its declared weight, so it mixes grades, models and qualities under one heading. It is shown only where the weight is recorded, at least three source countries of USD 100k or more ship the line to Ethiopia with a weight, and the figure sits within a factor of five of the middle of those sources. Outside that band it is treated as a recording problem and left out.

Share is China's part of everything Ethiopia imported in that line, from every source. Sources counts the countries that shipped any of it.

Scope. Manufactured and processed goods, customs chapters 16 to 96, without ores, fuels, precious metals, scrap, raw farm output and one-off capital and defence purchases: the same rule as the Made here pages.

What it does not say

A record of trade, not a shopping list.

What this record does not say: what sells at retail, what margin a trade leaves, how crowded the marketplaces are, or how much of a flow is re-exported through entrepots such as Hong Kong and Singapore.

A large line is not proof of an opening, and a lower unit value from another country is not proof the goods are the same. Tariffs, standards, freight, payment terms, lead times and the plain fact that a supplier is good at it are all invisible here. Nothing on this page is a forecast, a recommendation or a promise. No supplier company is named, because the record holds none.

Source: CEPII BACI, HS22, version 202601. Edition of 2026-11-03.