What Malawi sells and buys, and with whom
Malawi exported US$983m of goods in 2024 and imported US$3.3bn, a deficit of US$2.3bn. 21% of its exports went to other SADC countries, which supplied 33% of its imports.
Malawi's trade since 2012
Exports and imports of goods, and exports to other SADC countries, US dollars
Who buys from Malawi
Exports by destination, 2024. Germany takes 10%.
What Malawi sells, and to whom
Exports by product group and partner, 2024
Hover over a band or a name to follow it. Flows under 0.4% of the total (US$22m in all) are not drawn.
Malawi's main exports
Top products (four-digit HS headings), 2024, with the value five years before
Trade with each SADC neighbour
2024, with the main products each way| Neighbour | Malawi sold | Malawi bought | Balance | Mostly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa | US$63m | US$504m | −US$441m | Sold tea; bought cars · more |
| Tanzania | US$32m | US$326m | −US$295m | Sold soya cake; bought refined fuels and oils · more |
| Zambia | US$21m | US$123m | −US$102m | Sold plastic sheets; bought tobacco leaf · more |
| Mozambique | US$19m | US$87m | −US$68m | Sold other oil seeds and oleaginous fruits; bought refined fuels and oils · more |
| Zimbabwe | US$49m | US$29m | +US$20m | Sold tobacco leaf; bought paper packaging · more |
| DRC | US$9.9m | US$42k | +US$9.8m | Sold poultry meat; bought tobacco leaf · more |
| Angola | US$9.5m | US$53k | +US$9.5m | Sold bulldozers, graders and excavators; bought presses, crushers and similar machinery used in the… · more |
| Eswatini | US$18k | US$7.0m | −US$7.0m | Sold furniture; bought food preparations · more |
| Botswana | US$1.2m | US$4.8m | −US$3.6m | Sold tea; bought salt and pure sodium chloride · more |
| Mauritius | US$90k | US$4.6m | −US$4.5m | Sold taps and valves; bought sugar · more |
| Namibia | US$147k | US$1.9m | −US$1.7m | Sold tobacco leaf; bought cameras and transmitters · more |
| Madagascar | US$50k | US$1.5m | −US$1.5m | Sold tobacco leaf; bought nitrogen fertilisers · more |
| Lesotho | US$242k | US$91k | +US$151k | Sold raw cotton; bought bulldozers, graders and excavators · more |
| Seychelles | US$68k | US$20k | +US$48k | Sold tobacco leaf; bought machinery for working rubber or plastics or for the… · more |
How processed Malawi's trade is
Exports and imports by stage of processing, 2024
Raw: unprocessed farm goods, ores, minerals, crude oil, coal and gas. Processed materials: refined metals and fuels, chemicals, processed farm goods for industry. Refined gold counts here. Manufactured goods: machinery, vehicles, parts, consumer goods and packaged food.
Analysis: Malawi's value-addition balance and openings
For members: where Malawi earns and spends at each stage of processing, with SADC and with the world; how much rides on a few products and buyers; what it is competitive in; which exports grew or shrank; where its exports meet preferential terms; and the products it could sell to neighbours, or buy from them instead of from outside the region.
The trade analysis for Malawi is part of the Individual plan
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CEPII BACI, built from UN Comtrade with each flow reconciled between exporter and importer (Etalab Open Licence 2.0). Values in current US dollars; exports valued free on board. Figures can differ from national statistics, and include non-monetary gold. About the data