Paraguay’s Exports Rose In 2025, But A Faster Import Surge Widened The Trade Gap

Key Points

1. Paraguay’s exports climbed to $16.7203 billion in 2025, but imports jumped to $18.1111 billion, leaving a $1.3907 billion goods-trade deficit.
2. The export mix mattered: registered exports grew slowly, re-exports surged, and maquila shipments advanced, pointing to both hub activity and industrial upgrading.
3. The import bill was driven by machinery and parts, suggesting investment and demand strength, but also a bigger need for hard-currency discipline.

Paraguay closed 2025 with a trade story that looks stronger and riskier at the same time. Total exports reached $16.7203 billion, up 5.8% from 2024. Yet imports expanded even faster, rising 10.6% to $18.1111 billion.

That pushed the country’s goods-trade balance to a deficit of about $1.3907 billion, more than double the shortfall recorded the year before. The composition of exports explains why the top-line gain can be misleading.

Registered exports, the core measure tied to domestic production, totaled $11.0821 billion, up just 1.5%. The bigger jump came from re-exports, which surged 17.2% to $4.5847 billion, underscoring Paraguay’s role as a regional trading platform.

“Other exports” added $1.0535 billion, up 7.7%, rounding out a picture of an economy that earns foreign currency through multiple channels, not only commodities. Sector-by-sector, soy remained the single largest export line at $2.354 billion, even after a sharp annual drop.

Beef and beef offal moved the other way, climbing 21.9% to about $2.1732 billion. Electricity exports generated roughly $1.2212 billion, up 2.8%.

Corn exports reached around $596 million, soybean oil about $612 million, and industrial items such as wires and electrical conductors brought in roughly $405 million.

Maquila exports rise, imports shift patterns

The maquila regime offered a clearer sign of production upgrading: maquila exports hit about $1.2367 billion, up 10%, reflecting the steady expansion of export-oriented manufacturing.

Imports tell the second half of the story. Electrical machinery and parts led the surge at roughly $3.3017 billion, up 24.2%, while fuel and lubricants fell 12.9% to about $1.7752 billion.

Imports for internal use totaled about $14.5675 billion, and purchases under the tourism regime about $3.1544 billion, tying the import cycle to both domestic demand and cross-border commerce.

Brazil remained the top export destination at about $3.434 billion, while China led imports by share, with Brazil second and the United States third.

The challenge for 2026 is straightforward: keep expanding competitive exports and investment-linked manufacturing, while preventing an import boom from becoming a long-term external vulnerability.

Related coverage: Brazil’s Morning Call | Macron’s Greenland Warning, And The Quiet Question Of Europe This is part of The Rio Times’ daily coverage of Paraguay affairs and Latin American financial news.

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