That calculated dollar amount results from a 68.1% increase from $38.7 billion five years earlier in 2019.
Year over year, revenues collected for Oman’s total exports flatlined via a -1.5% slowdown compared to $66.1 billion for 2022.
Oman’s top 5 most valuable exported products are crude oil, petroleum gases, processed petroleum oils, semi-finished goods made from iron or non-alloy steel, then nitrogenous fertilizers. Combined, those five product groups represent over four-fifths (83.3%) of Oman’s total exports by value in 2023. Such a high percentage indicates a relatively concentrated range of exported goods.
Given Oman’s population of 5.05 million people, its total $65.1 billion in 2023 exports translates to roughly $12,900 for every resident in the Middle Eastern country. That dollar amount lags Oman’s average $14,800 per person one year earlier during 2022.
Oman’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Omani global shipments during 2023, at the 2-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Oman.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$49.6 billion (76.2% of total exports)
- Iron, steel: $3 billion (4.6%)
- Organic chemicals: $2.61 billion (4%)
- Fertilizers: $2.58 billion (4%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $1.8 billion (2.7%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $1.11 billion (1.7%)
- Aluminum: $1.08 billion (1.7%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $558.5 million (0.9%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: $408.8 million (0.6%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $381.7 million (0.6%)
Oman’s top 10 exports accounted for 96.9% of the overall value of Omani global shipments.
Inorganic chemicals: was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 265% from 2022 to 2023.
In second place for improving export sales was organic chemicals via a 175.9% advance.
Oman’s shipments of aircraft and spacecraft posted the remaining gain in value, up by 98.7%.
The leading decliner among Oman’s top 10 export categories was ores, slag and ash, pulled down by a -50.5% year-over-year drop. Iron ores and concentrates was a major reason for that category’s decline.
Drilling down to the more granular four-digit HTS codes, crude oil represents Oman’s most valuable exported product at 45.4% of the country’s total. In second place were petroleum gases (16.8%) trailed by processed petroleum oils (13.3%), semi-finished products made from iron or non-alloy steel (3.9%), nitrogenous fertilizers (3.8%), acyclic alcohols (2.8%), iron ores and concentrates (1.5%), cyclic hydrocarbons (1%), unwrought aluminum (1%), then ethylene polymers (also 1%).
Products Generating Oman’s Largest Trade Surpluses
Overall, Oman generated an estimated US$44.1 billion trade surplus for 2023, up by 60.3% from $27.5 billion in black ink one year earlier in 2022.
The following types of Omani product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$46.9 billion (Up by 26.1% since 2022)
- Fertilizers: $2.6 billion (Up by 23.5%)
- Iron, steel: $2.4 billion (Up by 705.6%)
- Organic chemicals: $2 billion (Reversing a -$680.5 million deficit)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $1.3 billion (Down by -34.5%)
- Aluminum: $977.6 million (Down by -9.5%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $525.7 million (Up by 51.6%)
- Fish: $279.3 million (Up by 0.1%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: $57.2 million (Down by -52.7%)
- Other base metals: $21.9 million (Down by -38.5%)
Oman has highly positive net exports in the international trade of petroleum oils (both crude and refined) as well as petroleum gases. In turn, these cashflows indicate Oman’s strong competitive advantages under the mineral fuels including oil product category.
Products Causing Oman’s Worst Trade Deficits
Below are exports from Oman that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Oman’s goods trail Omani importer spending on foreign products.
- Machinery including computers: -US$2.5 billion (Up by 2.5% since 2022)
- Vehicles: -$2.4 billion (Up by 7%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$1.1 billion (Down by -37.3%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$838.7 million (Up by 2.5%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$498.6 million (Up by 25.3%)
- Cereals: -$482.9 million (Down by -26.6%)
- Dairy, eggs, honey: -$383.8 million (Down by -25.7%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$363.4 million (Down by -26.2%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting , signs, prefab buildings: -$343.4 million (Up by 39.2%)
- Meat: -$337.6 million (Up by 12.4%)
Oman has highly negative net exports under the machinery including computers product category.
Omani Export Companies
One Omani corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000, namely Bank Muscat (regional bank).
Wikipedia also lists export-related companies from Oman. Selected examples are shown below.
- Oman LNG (oil, gas)
- Oman Oil Company (oil, gas)
- Oman Refinery Company (oil, gas)
- Omantel (telecommunications)
- Petroleum Development Oman (oil, gas)
- The Shaksy Group (diversified holding company)
In macroeconomic terms, Oman’s total exported goods represent 32.5% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2023 ($200.3 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 32.5% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2023 compares to 36% for 2022. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Oman’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Oman’s unemployment rate averaged 1.5% in 2023, same as the average 1.5% for 2022 per Trading Economics statistics.
Oman’s capital city is Muscat.
See also Crude Oil Exports by Country, UAE’s Top 10 Exports, Qatar’s Top Trading Partners and India’s Top Trading Partners
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on September 21, 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on September 21, 2024
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on September 21, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on September 21, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on September 21, 2024
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on September 21, 2024
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Oman. Accessed on September 21, 2024
Wikipedia, Oman. Accessed on September 21, 2024
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on September 21, 2024