Foreign trade

In 2000, Tibet's total foreign trade value reached US$130.31 million, down by 21.6 per cent from US$166.22 million in 1999.

Total export value was US$113.34 million, up by 31.71 per cent on US$86.05 million in 1999 and equivalent to 8.02 per cent of the region's GDP of RMB11.65 billion.

Primary goods accounted for 8.27 per cent of the total, or US$9.37 million, while manufactured products accounted for 91.73 per cent, a total value of US$103.97 million.

Tibet is heavily dependent on its top five export markets (see Table 7.26.2). In 1995, 92.69 per cent of the export earnings were from these and in 2000 this percentage increased to 97.2 per cent. Nepal absorbed 92.37 per cent of Tibet's total exports.

Table 7.26.2: Top five export markets, Tibet Autonomous Region, 1995 and 2000

Country/region	Export value (US$ million)	% of export total
1995
Japan	16.69	47.78
Republic of Korea	5.29	15.16
Nepal	4.88	13.98
Hong Kong	3.96	11.34
USA	1.54	4.43
Total	32.36	92.69
2000
Nepal	104.687	92.37
Hong Kong	2.12	1.87
USA	1.562	1.38
Japan	1.48	1.31
Malaysia	0.3	0.27
Total	110.149	97.2

Total import value was US$16.97 million, down by 78.83 per cent from US$80.17 million in 1999. Import of primary and manufactured products amounted to US$175,000 and US$16.795 million, accounting for 1.03 per cent and 98.97 per cent respectively of the total import value. Import commodities came mainly from Japan (see Table 7.26.3), who supplied US$9.07 million worth of goods to Tibet, accounting for 53.45 per cent of the total import value. Nepal ranked second with US$6.72 million, a share of 39.61 per cent. Japan and Nepal had a combined share of 93.61 per cent in Tibet's total import value.

Table 7.26.3: Top five import markets, Tibet Autonomous Region, 1995 and 2000

Country/region	Import value (US$ million)	% of export total
Hong Kong	12.32	34.63
Japan	14.34	40.31
USA	7.30	20.51
Nepal	0.90	2.52
Total	34.86	97.97
2000
Japan	9.07	53.45
Nepal	6.72	39.61
Republic of Korea	0.39	2.3
UK	0.37	2.18
France	0.14	0.82
Total	16.69	98.36