Datastream

The Top Import for Each Country: Asia

Published

2 years ago

January 6, 2021

Carmen Ang

Top Imports in Asia

The Briefing

Petroleum is the most popular import across Asia
China imports the most petroleum in Asia—in 2018, it brought in over $207 billion worth
China is the world’s second largest importer (the U.S. comes in at number one)

The Top Imports in Asia

By 2040, Asia is projected to make up 40% of worldwide consumption. What types of goods and products are in high demand by the world’s (soon-to-be) largest consumer? One way to tackle this question is by looking at the top imports across Asia.

The map above does just that. For brevity, we’ve excluded regions with a top import value below $1 billion.

Top Imports in Asia, by Country

Just like the Americas, petroleum is the most popular import in Asia. In fact, it’s the top import in 19 of the 34 countries included on this list, including in China where over $200 billion worth of petroleum was imported in 2018:

Country	Region	Top Import	Import Value (2018, USD)
🇨🇳 China	Eastern Asia	Petroleum	$207.6 B
🇭🇰 China, Hong Kong SAR	Eastern Asia	Electronic integrated circuits	$155.9 B
🇮🇳 India	Southern Asia	Petroleum	$101.4 B
🇰🇷 South Korea	Eastern Asia	Petroleum	$74.8B
🇯🇵 Japan	Eastern Asia	Petroleum	$72.3B
🇸🇬 Singapore	South-eastern Asia	Petroleum	$48.0 B
🇲🇾 Malaysia	South-eastern Asia	Electronic integrated circuits	$29.6 B
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates	Western Asia	Gold	$ 27.3 B
🇹🇭 Thailand	South-eastern Asia	Petroleum	$23.7 B
🇻🇳 Vietnam	South-eastern Asia	Electronic integrated circuits	$23.0 B
🇵🇭 Philippines	South-eastern Asia	Electronic integrated circuits	$20.1 B
🇮🇩 Indonesia	South-eastern Asia	Petroleum	$16.1 B
🇹🇷 Turkey	Western Asia	Petroleum	$12.4 B
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	Western Asia	Vehicles	$8.9 B
🇮🇱 Israel	Western Asia	Petroleum	$7.2 B
🇵🇰 Pakistan	Southern Asia	Petroleum	$5.8 B
🇰🇭 Cambodia	South-eastern Asia	Gold	$5.7 B
🇧🇭 Bahrain	Western Asia	Petroleum	$5.3 B
🇶🇦 Qatar	Western Asia	Aircrafts	$4.5 B
🇧🇩 Bangladesh	Southern Asia	Petroleum	$4.1 B
🇮🇶 Iraq	Western Asia	Broadcasting equipment	$3.8 B
🇮🇷 Iran	Southern Asia	Vehicles	$3.5 B
🇱🇧 Lebanon	Western Asia	Petroleum	$3.5 B
🇰🇼 Kuwait	Western Asia	Vehicles	$3.0 B
🇲🇲 Myanmar	South-eastern Asia	Petroleum	$2.8 B
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka	Southern Asia	Petroleum	$2.3 B
🇴🇲 Oman	Western Asia	Vehicles	$2.2 B
🇨🇾 Cyprus	Western Asia	Petroleum	$2.2 B
🇯🇴 Jordan	Western Asia	Vehicles	$1.5 B
🇳🇵 Nepal	Southern Asia	Petroleum	$1.4 B
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan	Western Asia	Gold	$1.3 B
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan	Central Asia	Petroleum	$1.1 B
🇲🇳 Mongolia	Eastern Asia	Petroleum	$1.0 B

Vehicles are the second most popular, ranking first in five countries. Saudi Arabia is the top importer of vehicles, with an import value of $8.9 billion in 2018.

In third place, electronic integrated circuits, which are small chips used in electronic devices, rank as the top import in four countries. Three of those are in South-eastern Asia, which makes sense considering the region is becoming Asia’s manufacturing hub.

Hong Kong is the top importer of integrated circuits—not just across Asia, but worldwide. Interestingly, integrated circuits are also Hong Kong’s top export. Because many of Hong Kong’s manufacturing facilities have been relocated to China, the region’s electronics industry focuses on R&D, product design, and logistics.

>> Interested in global trade? You should check out this article: The Top Import for Each Country: The Americas

Where does this data come from?

Source: BACI, UN Comtrade
Details: BACI is an international trade database, providing information on bilateral trade flows for more than 5000 products and 200 countries. It pulls data directly from the United Nations Statistical Division (UN Comtrade)
Notes: For more information on methodology, visit the CEPII website

Related Topics:petroleum electronics imports oil imports foreign trade vehicles trade flows top imports china

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United States

Charted: Public Trust in the Federal Reserve

Public trust in the Federal Reserve chair has hit its lowest point in 20 years. Get the details in this infographic.

Published

1 week ago

May 23, 2023

Marcus Lu

The Briefing

Gallup conducts an annual poll to gauge the U.S. public’s trust in the Federal Reserve
After rising during the COVID-19 pandemic, public trust has fallen to a 20-year low

Charted: Public Trust in the Federal Reserve

Each year, Gallup conducts a survey of American adults on various economic topics, including the country’s central bank, the Federal Reserve.

More specifically, respondents are asked how much confidence they have in the current Fed chairman to do or recommend the right thing for the U.S. economy. We’ve visualized these results from 2001 to 2023 to see how confidence levels have changed over time.

Methodology and Results

The data used in this infographic is also listed in the table below. Percentages reflect the share of respondents that have either a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence.

Year	Fed chair	% Great deal or Fair amount
2023	Jerome Powell	36%
2022	Jerome Powell	43%
2021	Jerome Powell	55%
2020	Jerome Powell	58%
2019	Jerome Powell	50%
2018	Jerome Powell	45%
2017	Janet Yellen	45%
2016	Janet Yellen	38%
2015	Janet Yellen	42%
2014	Janet Yellen	37%
2013	Ben Bernanke	42%
2012	Ben Bernanke	39%
2011	Ben Bernanke	41%
2010	Ben Bernanke	44%
2009	Ben Bernanke	49%
2008	Ben Bernanke	47%
2007	Ben Bernanke	50%
2006	Ben Bernanke	41%
2005	Alan Greenspan	56%
2004	Alan Greenspan	61%
2003	Alan Greenspan	65%
2002	Alan Greenspan	69%
2001	Alan Greenspan	74%

Data for 2023 collected April 3-25, with this statement put to respondents: “Please tell me how much confidence you have [in the Fed chair] to recommend the right thing for the economy.”

We can see that trust in the Federal Reserve has fluctuated significantly in recent years.

For example, under Alan Greenspan, trust was initially high due to the relative stability of the economy. The burst of the dotcom bubble—which some attribute to Greenspan’s easy credit policies—resulted in a sharp decline.

On the flip side, public confidence spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was likely due to Jerome Powell’s decisive actions to provide support to the U.S. economy throughout the crisis.

Measures implemented by the Fed include bringing interest rates to near zero, quantitative easing (buying government bonds with newly-printed money), and emergency lending programs to businesses.

Confidence Now on the Decline

After peaking at 58%, those with a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in the Fed chair have tumbled to 36%, the lowest number in 20 years.

This is likely due to Powell’s hard stance on fighting post-pandemic inflation, which has involved raising interest rates at an incredible speed. While these rate hikes may be necessary, they also have many adverse effects:

Negative impact on the stock market
Increases the burden for those with variable-rate debts
Makes mortgages and home buying less affordable

Higher rates have also prompted many U.S. tech companies to shrink their workforces, and have been a factor in the regional banking crisis, including the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

Where does this data come from?

Source: Gallup (2023)

Data Notes: Results are based on telephone interviews conducted April 3-25, 2023, with a random sample of –1,013—adults, ages 18+, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on this sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. See source for details.