Historia de los patrones comerciales de Bolivia (1900-2015)[History of trade patterns in Bolivia (1900-2015)]

This paper analyzes Bolivia’s trade patterns from 1900 to 2015, highlighting both the composition of imports and exports by product type and the country’s main trading partners. The data show that imports from the rest of the world mainly consisted of industrial goods, while food products—with little or some processing—were significant during the first half of the 20th century. In contrast, exports were concentrated in raw materials, primarily minerals and later hydrocarbons, following periods of high international demand and prices for these commodities. Since the 1950s a certain degree of export diversification began, becoming more relevant in the 1990s; but this was reversed with the natural gas exports boom. Thus, for more than a century, the common feature was the concentration of exports on raw materials and imports of manufactured goods, with an exchange based on natural resources abundance associated with changes in global consumption, which underwent few changes over time; accompanied by a marginal industrial development.