That calculated dollar amount results from a 33.1% increase from $10.2 billion five years earlier in 2019.
Year over year, the overall value of Papua New Guinean exports shrank by -19.9% compared to $16.9 billion starting from 2022.
The top 5 most valuable goods exported from Papua New Guinea are petroleum gases, unwrought gold, copper ores and concentrates, palm oil and crude petroleum oil. Revealing a concentrated portfolio, those five leading product groups represent over three-quarters (78.1%) of value of Papua New Guinea’s exports during 2023.
Papua New Guinea’s Major Trading Partners
The latest available data is from 2021. Those figures show that 90.4% of products exported from Papua New Guinea was bought by importers in: Japan (22.6% of Papua New Guinea’s global total), mainland China (18.2%), Australia (17.4%), Taiwan (7.1%), Singapore (6.6%), South Korea (4%), Netherlands (3.1%), Malaysia (2.9%), Philippines (2.6%), Hong Kong (2.2%), Germany (2%) and Switzerland (1.7%).
From a continental perspective, 68.4% of Papua New Guinea’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 17.8% was sold to importers in Oceania led by Australia. Papua New Guinea shipped another 12.4% worth of goods to Europe.
Tinier percentages went to importers in North America (1.5%), Africa (0.02%) then Latin America (0.01%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
Given Papua New Guinea’s population of 12.3 million people, its total $13.6 billion in exports translates to roughly $1,100 for every resident in the island country. That dollar metric lags the average $1,700 per capita one year earlier for 2022.
Papua New Guinea’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Papua New Guinean global shipments during 2023. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Papua New Guinea.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$7.3 billion (53.6% of total exports)
- Gems, precious metals: $1.9 billion (14.2%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $1.3 billion (9.5%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $970.4 million (7.2%)
- Wood: $589.5 million (4.3%)
- Nickel: $580.7 million (4.3%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $276.5 million (2%)
- Meat/seafood preparations: $240.8 million (1.8%)
- Fish: $174.2 million (1.3%)
- Cocoa: $118 million (0.9%)
Papua New Guinea’s top 10 exports accounted for 98.9% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Cocoa was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 29.5% from 2022 to 2023.
In second place for improving export sales was ores, slag and ash via a 13.5% advance led by chromium ores and concentrates.
Papua New Guinea’s shipments of fish posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 5.2%.
The leading decliner among Papua New Guinea’s top 10 export categories was mineral fuels including oil, recording a -28.6% year-over-year drop.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, petroleum gases represent Papua New Guinea’s most valuable exported product at 47.1% of the country’s total. In second place was unwrought gold (13.4%) trailed by copper ores and concentrates (6.7%), palm oil (6.2%), crude oil (4.8%), nickel matte and oxide sinters (4.3%), rough wood (4%), precious metal ores and concentrates (2.4%), coffee (2%), then prepared or preserved fish and caviar (1.8%).
Products Behind Papua New Guinea’s Best Trade Surpluses
Overall Papua New Guinea achieved an estimated US$8 billion trade surplus for 2023, falling by -29.6% from the $11.3 billion in black ink one year earlier in 2022.
The following types of Papua New Guinean 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$6.2 billion (Down by -33% since 2022)
- Gems, precious metals: $1.9 billion (Up by 3.2%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $1.3 billion (Up by 13.3%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $935.6 million (Down by -24.1%)
- Wood: $581.7 million (Down by -15.3%)
- Nickel: $580.4 million (Down by -24.4%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $274.2 million (Up by 2.7%)
- Meat/seafood preparations: $201.2 million (Down by -10.6%)
- Fish: $147.3 million (Up by 4.3%)
- Cocoa: $113 million (Up by 35%)
Papua New Guinea has positive net exports in the international trade of petroleum gases and, to a lesser extent, crude oil. In turn, these cashflows indicate Papua New Guinea’s strong competitive advantages under the category named mineral fuels including oil.
Products Causing Papua New Guinea’s Worst Trade Deficits
Below are exports from Papua New Guinea that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Papua New Guinea’s goods trail Papua New Guinean importer spending on foreign products.
- Machinery including computers: -US$866.8 million (Up by 4.9% since 2022)
- Vehicles: -$466.1 million (Up by 26.7%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$357.9 million (Up by 13.5%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$247.4 million (Down by -4.2%)
- Cereals: -$247.3 million (Down by -4.3%)
- Meat: -$184.3 million (Up by 7.1%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$170.7 million (Down by -6.7%)
- Miscellaneous food preparations: -$125.7 million (Down by -15%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: -$90.8 million (Down by -9.1%)
- Iron, steel: -$71.2 million (Down by -36.1%)
Papua New Guinea has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the machinery including computers category.
Papua New Guinean Export Companies
Not one Papua New Guinean corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia lists exports-related companies from Papua New Guinea. Selected examples are shown below.
- Bank South Pacific (international bank)
- InterOil (oil, gas)
- Liquid Niugini LNG (natural gas)
- Oil Search Limited (oil, gas)
- Ok Tedi Mining Limited (copper, gold mining)
- PNG Air (airliner)
In macroeconomic terms, Papua New Guinea’s total exported goods represent 32.8% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2023 ($41.4 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 32.8% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2023 compares to 40.5% for 2022. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Papua New Guinea’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Any key indicator for an economy’s health is the unemployment rate. Papua New Guinea’s unemployment rate averaged 2.7% in 2023, falling from the average 2.8% in 2022 per Trading Economics.
Papua New Guinea’s capital city is Port Moresby, nicknamed “Pom City”.
See also Gold Exports by Country, Silver Exports by Country and Platinum Exports by Country.
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on September 24, 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on September 24, 2024
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on September 24, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on September 24, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on September 24, 2024
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on September 24, 2024
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Papua New Guinea. Accessed on September 24, 2024
Wikipedia, Papua New Guinea. Accessed on September 24, 2024
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on September 24, 2024