Commodity and country composition of exports
Exports of Laos grew steadily over the study period, from U$21 million in 1985 to
U$583 million in 2005. Table 3 presents the shares of export commodity groups at the onedigit
SITC. It is clear that over the last 20 years Laos‟ exports have concentrated in some
sectors and the structure has changed little. In 1985, „food and live animals‟ (SITC 0) and
„crude materials without fuels‟ (SITC 2) dominated the exports, as they made up nearly 93%
of the country‟s exports. In 2005 these two groups still accounted for more than one third with
the share of SITC 0 decreasing a great deal. The representative of „food and live animals‟ is
coffee (SITC 071), and that of „crude materials‟ includes wood and wood products (SITC
247; 248).