State of commodity dependence 2023

Format:

Corporate Author:

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

Publisher:

UN

A country is export commodity-dependent (from now on 'commodity dependent') when its exports are heavily concentrated on primary commodities. The source of commodity dependence can be linked to different persistent or even structural conditions of a country such as its resource endowment and factor composition, institutionality, geographic situation, history and others. In this document, we follow past UNCTAD practice by considering UNCTAD member States to be commodity dependent if more than 60 per cent of its merchandise export value comes from commodities. It is important to monitor and analyze the evolution of commodity dependence, as the latter can have negative implications for a country's welfare and development. This document is divided into two parts. The first one is dedicated to identifying and characterizing commodity-dependent countries, as well as discussing the recent evolution of commodity prices, commodity export value and the net asset position of these countries. The second part is dedicated to country-specific commodity dependence profiles that also include important economic and social statistics