St. Lucia: Food imports (% of merchandise imports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2020, St. Lucia's food imports (% of merchandise imports) rose 0.56 percentage points on 2019 (from 27.08% to 27.64%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1986 to 2019), the average change was +0.08 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.48 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 6.81 percentage points in 2014 and the biggest yearly fall was 6.32 percentage points in 2013. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2011 to 2020 the straight-line trend is upward, about 0.55 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 37% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

What this measures

Food comprises the commodities in SITC (Rev. 3) sections 0 (food and live animals), 1 (beverages and tobacco), and 4 (animal and vegetable oils and fats) and division 22 (oil seeds, oil nuts, and oil kernels). This indicator is expressed as a percentage of merchandise imports which is comprised of goods whose economic ownership is changed between a non-resident and a resident and that are not included in the following specific categories: goods under merchanting, non-monetary gold, and parts of travel, construction, and government goods and services n.i.e.

Limitations: Previous editions contained data based on the SITC revision 1. Data for earlier years in previous editions may differ because of the change in methodology. Concordance tables are available to convert data reported in one system to another.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 44 values

Food imports (% of merchandise imports) in nearby economies

• Antigua and Barbuda — 27.67% (2024)
• Argentina — 7.81% (2025)
• Aruba — 30.75% (2023)
• Bahamas, The — 19.96% (2024)
• Barbados — 22.38% (2025)
• Belize — 19.35% (2025)
• Bolivia — 7.62% (2025)
• Brazil — 5.53% (2025)
• Chile — 11.52% (2025)
• Colombia — 13.93% (2025)
• Costa Rica

More private sector & trade data for St. Lucia

• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$1.01 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$85 million (2025)
• Insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports) — 7.41% (2025)
• Computer, communications and other services (% of commercial service imports) — 53.63% (2025)
• Commercial service imports (current US$) — US$671.73 million (2025)
• Transport services (% of commercial service imports) — 24.04% (2025)
• Travel services (% of commercial service imports) — 14.92% (2025)
• Computer, communications and other services (% of commercial service exports) — 4.75% (2025)
• Commercial service exports (current US$)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is St. Lucia's food imports (% of merchandise imports)?

27.64% in 2020, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1973?

It is down 1.44 percentage points from 29.09% in 1973. The highest value was 30.35% in 1975 and the lowest 17.98% in 2013.

Is the latest change in food imports (% of merchandise imports) unusual for St. Lucia?

In 2020, St. Lucia's food imports (% of merchandise imports) rose 0.56 percentage points on 2019 (from 27.08% to 27.64%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1986 to 2019), the average change was +0.08 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.48 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Comtrade database, United Nations (UN), publisher: UN Statistics Division; World Integrated Trade Solution system (WITS); Staff estimates, World Bank (WB).

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator TM.VAL.FOOD.ZS.UN, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Comtrade database, United Nations (UN), publisher: UN Statistics Division; World Integrated Trade Solution system (WITS); Staff estimates, World Bank (WB) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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