Throughout 2025, Laos' single largest export category by value was neither gold, potash, nor electronic equipment. According to official data from Laos' Department of Foreign Trade, it was electricity, generating more than US$2 billion through high-voltage transmission lines to neighboring countries.
The claim, however, requires a small clarification. The Lao government records electricity separately from "goods" in its trade statistics.
Of the country's US$9.5 billion in goods exports in 2025, no single product category exceeded the value of electricity exports. Electronic equipment, the second-largest category, was worth US$1.6 billion, followed by gold bullion at US$1.2 billion and potash at US$904 million.
In other words, electricity alone generated more export revenue than any individual physical commodity exported by Laos. However, it did not exceed the combined value of all goods exports.
The Numbers Behind the Claim
Laos' total trade reached US$19.214 billion in 2025, up 4.9 percent from 2024. Goods exports totaled US$9.5 billion, while imports reached US$9.6 billion. Excluding electricity exports, the country would have recorded a trade deficit of about US$88 million.
In 2024, total trade stood at US$18.3 billion, with electricity exports alone valued at approximately US$2.6 billion.
If electricity exports are excluded, China was Laos' largest trading partner, with nearly US$6.6 billion in total trade. Once electricity is included, however, the picture changes significantly. Most of Laos' electricity exports flow to Thailand and Viet Nam rather than China.
Electricity Becomes a Pillar of Laos' Economy
According to a report by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), electricity has become one of Laos' fastest-growing export sectors over the past decade. Its share of total exports rose from just 5 percent in 2010 to 21.2 percent in 2021, before reaching 25 percent in 2022.
According to the Bank of Laos, the sector also accounted for 9.7 percent of the country's real GDP in 2021.
Physically, Laos has an estimated hydropower potential of 24,000 to 26,000 megawatts. Around 18,000 megawatts of that capacity is considered technically feasible to develop.
By 2023, the country's installed power generation capacity had reached 11,652 megawatts, producing about 57,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity. Roughly 83 percent of that output came from hydropower.
Separate data from International Water Power show that hydropower capacity increased further to 10.4 gigawatts in 2025, out of a total system capacity of 12.3 gigawatts. Annual electricity exports also climbed to 40.8 terawatt-hours, up sharply from 11.6 terawatt-hours in 2015.
Where All That Electricity Goes
Thailand is the largest buyer of Lao electricity. It has committed to importing up to 10,500 megawatts, with around 6,000 megawatts already in operation since 2020 through 230 kV and 500 kV transmission lines.
Viet Nam ranks second, with a commitment of 5,000 megawatts, although fewer than 1,000 megawatts have been utilized so far. Cambodia follows with a new agreement covering 6,000 megawatts, much of it supplied by the Don Sahong Dam on the Mekong River.
The expansion is also reaching farther across the region. Malaysia has increased its electricity purchase agreement from 100 megawatts to 300 megawatts through Thailand's transmission network. There are also plans to export up to 600 megawatts to Myanmar and 100 megawatts to Singapore.
According to ERIA, Laos aims to dedicate 18,000 megawatts of installed generating capacity exclusively for exports by 2030. That would represent an increase of roughly 300 percent from current export levels. Electricity export volumes are also projected to triple by the same year.
The scale of that ambition explains why Laos is often called the "Battery of Southeast Asia." Despite being landlocked, the country has built much of its economic strategy around a commodity that cannot be stored in shipping containers or transported through seaports.
Instead, it flows directly through high-voltage transmission lines to homes and factories across neighboring countries.
