#ProductHS6CategoryUSD bnINDGOVIn the registerBiggest buyers 2023 (USD bn)
The 2,500 largest HS6 industrial products the 54 states imported in 2023 — USD 561.8 bn — in sixteen categories, each with two scores: how industrialised the product is to make, and how much governments are the buyer. Sort by either, or read the list from #1 to #2,500. Agro-processing sits at the bottom by design.
| 10Precision & high-technology | Computers, phones & network equipment, semiconductors & solar cells, medical imaging & instruments, laboratory & control instruments, aircraft & engines, turbines, vaccines & biologics, special-purpose machinery, ships |
| 9Engineered goods | Vehicles, rail, most machinery (pumps, compressors, earthmoving, agricultural, packaging), electrical machinery (generators, transformers, switchgear, batteries, motors), medicines, optical goods |
| 8Heavy process industry | Refined fuels, LPG/LNG, electricity, petrochemicals & polymers, basic industrial chemicals, fertilisers, rolled & long steel, tubes & structures, cable, tyres, flat glass, appliances, vehicle parts & engines, aluminium & copper products, cement, hand tools, soaps & detergents |
| 7Fabrication & formulation | Metal fabrication & articles, plastics articles & pipes, paints & inks, cosmetics, agrochemicals, paper & packaging, ceramics & glassware, building materials, rubber articles, lighting, furniture, prefabricated buildings |
| 6Textiles & materials | Yarns & fabrics, wood panels, plywood & joinery, printed matter, leather goods, sporting goods, instruments, clocks |
| 5Light assembly | Garments, footwear, home textiles, bags, wooden articles |
| 4Processed foods | Preserved & prepared foods, bakery, beverages, tobacco products |
| 3Basic agro-processing | Vegetable oils, sugar & confectionery, cocoa products, milling, sawn timber |
The index is a rubric, not a measurement: it ranks the industrial capability a product requires, at HS4 heading level, inherited by each HS6 line. It is not the locked ledger's IL coefficient, which measures allocation leverage (how readily the continent can make the product) and points the other way — sugar and T-shirts score high on IL, CT scanners low. The two scores answer different questions and are kept apart.
Universe. The 4,373 HS6 lines under the 878 industrial headings of list v1.1 (3 Sep 2026), plus the fuel & energy layer, cut to the 2,500 largest by 2023 continental import value; armoured vehicles and the suspect motorcycle line excluded. Component pools are shown but held for the second allocation round. Plain-English names outside vehicles, electronics and pharma are interim working names pending the relabel pass.
Africa_Trade_Intelligence_MASTER_v3_COMPLETE.xlsx (54 reporters, HS6, 2023) · coefficient_ledger_v1_0.csv (government-procurement intensity, locked) · Buy_African_Product_Lines_v1_2 (13/15 Sep 2026) · Buy_African_Industrial_Product_List_v1_1.xlsx · Continental Register Draft 1.3 (holders).
Prepared for Hon. Neal Rijkenberg, Minister of Finance, Kingdom of Eswatini, Chair of the AU STC on Finance, Monetary Affairs, Economic Planning and Integration. Denholm Advisory — strategic architect and principal adviser.
Research and synthesis supporting this index were produced by the AI research team operating under Denholm Advisory — including Dr Jessica van der Merwe (Principal AI Research Agent), Sam Ndlovu, Dr Amara Osei, Lena Karimi, Dr Pieter Erasmus, Thandiwe Moyo and Ravi Chetty. All members of this research team are AI agents.