Trade lanes

What Zimbabwe buys, and from whom.

Zimbabwe imported USD 6.1bn of manufactured and processed goods in 2024, up 27 per cent on 2022. These are its twenty largest source countries. 2 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 Zimbabwe 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 Zimbabwe is best placed to make itself, see Made here: Zimbabwe.

  1. 1

    South Africa

    Share of Zimbabwe's imports43 per cent
    Changelevel with 2022
    USD 2.6bnin 2024
  2. 2

    China

    Share of Zimbabwe's imports23 per cent
    Changeup 24 per cent on 2022
    USD 1.4bnin 2024
  3. 3

    United Arab Emirates

    Share of Zimbabwe's imports5 per cent
    Changeup 95 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 276min 2024
  4. 4

    Zambia

    Share of Zimbabwe's imports4 per cent
    Changeup 38 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 229min 2024
  5. 5

    India

    Share of Zimbabwe's imports3 per cent
    Changedown 1 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 162min 2024
  6. 6

    Mauritius

    Share of Zimbabwe's imports2 per cent
    Changefrom USD 2m in 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 148min 2024
  7. 7

    Japan

    Share of Zimbabwe's imports2 per cent
    Changeup 193 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 111min 2024
  8. 8

    Mozambique

    Share of Zimbabwe's imports2 per cent
    Changenew since 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 93min 2024
  9. 9

    Germany

    Share of Zimbabwe's imports1 per cent
    Changeup 72 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 73min 2024
  10. 10

    United Kingdom

    Share of Zimbabwe's imports1 per cent
    Changeup 57 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 72min 2024
  11. 11

    Egypt

    Share of Zimbabwe's imports1 per cent
    Changeup 94 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 57min 2024
  12. 12

    Italy

    Share of Zimbabwe's imports1 per cent
    Changeup 117 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 53min 2024
  13. 13

    Eswatini

    Share of Zimbabwe's imports1 per cent
    Changeup 41 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 51min 2024
  14. 14

    United States

    Share of Zimbabwe's imports1 per cent
    Changeup 34 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 41min 2024
  15. 15

    Botswana

    Share of Zimbabwe's imports1 per cent
    Changedown 35 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 33min 2024
  16. 16

    Belgium

    Share of Zimbabwe's imports1 per cent
    Changeup 31 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 28min 2024
  17. 17

    Netherlands

    Share of Zimbabwe's imports1 per cent
    Changeup 81 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 28min 2024
  18. 18

    Russia

    Share of Zimbabwe's importsunder 1 per cent
    Changenew since 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 27min 2024
  19. 19

    Malaysia

    Share of Zimbabwe's importsunder 1 per cent
    Changefrom USD 2m in 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 27min 2024
  20. 20

    Ireland

    Share of Zimbabwe's importsunder 1 per cent
    Changeup 128 per cent on 2022
    Lane pageunder the lane threshold
    USD 26min 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 Zimbabwe 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 South Africa's part of everything Zimbabwe 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.