Africa-Press – Cape verde. Exports in 2025 increased by 18.2% and imports increased by 5.0% compared to 2024, according to provisional data on Foreign Trade in Goods for the year 2025.
According to the INE (National Institute of Statistics), national exports registered a significant increase, rising from 7,940 thousand contos in 2024 to 9,386 thousand contos in 2025, representing an increase of 18.2% (+1,446 thousand contos).
Regarding exports, the data indicated Europe as Cape Verde’s main customer, absorbing 95.4% of total Cape Verdean exports.
Spain leads the ranking of Cape Verde’s main customers in the European economic zone, representing 63.0% in 2025, having decreased by 0.6 percentage points compared to 2024 (63.6%). Italy occupies second place with 12.1%. Portugal, in third place, registered a decrease of 0.4 percentage points (from 11.6% to 11.2%). The United Kingdom, in fourth position, had an increase of 5.7 percentage points, rising from 3.3% in 2024 to 9.0% in 2025.
In the year under analysis, prepared and preserved fish remained Cape Verde’s main export product, representing 75.4% of the total, registering a decrease of 3.5 percentage points compared to the previous year. Postage stamps came in second place, with 9.0%, increasing by 5.7 percentage points. Next came clothing, with 5.1% of the total, thus completing the list of the three main exported products.
Regarding imports, which saw a 5.0% increase, the total rose from 190,447 thousand contos in 2024 to 199,961 thousand contos in 2025 (an increase of 9,514 thousand contos).
Also in terms of imports, the European continent remained Cape Verde’s main supplier, representing 58.0% of total imports, although it registered a decrease of 5.6 percentage points compared to the previous year, when it represented 63.6% of the total.
Asia/Oceania comes in second place, with a 21.2% share. Next are the African continent, with 13.3%, the Americas, with 5.9%, and the Rest of the World, with 1.6%.
Portugal remained the main trading partner, occupying the first position in imports, and acquisitions from the Portuguese market totaled 51,678 thousand contos, corresponding to 25.8% of total imports. Despite this, there was a reduction of 4.9 percentage points (pp) compared to 2024, when the value totaled 58,430 thousand contos.
Spain occupied the second position, with a share of 11.5% of total imports, reflecting a slight decrease of 0.6 pp compared to the previous year. In third place is Nigeria, with a 9.2% share, registering a significant increase in imports, reaching 18,322 thousand escudos in 2025.
Next are China, Italy, France, and Saudi Arabia, with shares of 6.2%, 6.0%, 5.4%, and 4.0%, respectively, compared to 2024.
According to INE data, the 10 main imported products represented 68.6% of Cape Verde’s total imports in 2025, reflecting a decrease of 1.2 percentage points compared to the 69.8% recorded in 2024.
The data indicates that the most imported products were fuels (40.2%), motor vehicles (5.3%), reactors and boilers (4.5%), machinery and engines (4.4%), and iron and iron products (2.7%), compared to 2024.
As for imports by large… Categories of goods reveal that, in the year 2025, consumer goods (8.7%), intermediate goods (11.2%), and capital goods (48.7%) evolved positively.
Fuels (-8.2%) evolved in the opposite direction compared to 2024, continuing to represent the main economic category of goods imported by Cape Verde, with a weight of 40.2%. Next come consumer goods, with 29.4%, intermediate goods, with 17.5%, and finally, capital goods, which represent 12.9% of the total imported.
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