Economy, Foreign Trade

Copper is the DRC’s principal export, accounting for more than half of total annual export revenues. Other leading exports include diamonds, crude petroleum, and coffee. Exports in 2000 totaled $580 million, and imports totaled $396 million. The principal trading partners for exports were Belgium and Luxembourg (which constitute a single trading entity), the United States, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Japan. For imports, principal partners were Belgium and Luxembourg, South Africa, the United States, France, Germany, and Italy. The DRC is a signatory of the Lome Convention, a trade and aid agreement between the European Union and African, Caribbean, and Pacific nations.