That dollar amount results from a 32.7% increase from $83.6 million worth of exports 5 years earlier during 2019.
Year over year, the overall value of Aruban exports grew by 5.2% compared to $105.5 million starting from 2022.
Aruba’s 5 most valuable exports are cigarettes and cigars, alcoholic beverages including spirits and liqueurs, jewelry, iron or steel scrap, then non-alcoholic drinks excluding water, juice or milk. Collectively, this quintet of lucrative exported products generated over three-quarters (77.8%) of Aruba’s overall international sales in 2023.
The latest available country-specific data shows that 100% of products exported from Aruba were bought by importers in: Colombia (66% of the Aruban total), United States of America (22.8%), Curaçao (5.6%), Netherlands (3.6%) and Panama (2.1%).
Given Aruba’s population of some 107,00 people, its total $111 million in 2023 exports translates to about $1,050 for every resident on the tourism-driven Caribbean island. That dollar metric exceeds the average $950 per capita one year earlier in 2022.
Aruba’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Aruban global shipments during 2023 presented 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 Aruba.
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: US$58.3 million (52.5% of total exports)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $14.9 million (13.5%)
- Gems, precious metals: $8.2 million (7.4%)
- Iron, steel: $6.1 million (5.5%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $2.0 million (1.8%)
- Perfumes, cosmetics: $1.9 million (1.7%)
- Clocks , watches including parts: $1.8 million (1.6%)
- Machinery including computers: $1.52 million (1.4%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $1.46 million (1.3%)
- Aluminum: $1.1 million (1.0%)
Aruba’s top 10 export product categories accounted for 87.7% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Iron and steel was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 44.9% from 2022 to 2023.
In second place for improving export sales was the clocks and watches including parts product category, via a 22.4% advance.
Aruba’s shipments of machinery including computers posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 15.7%.
The leading decliner among Aruba’s top 10 export categories was electrical machinery and equipment, pulled down by a -58.2% year-over-year drop.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, cigarettes and cigars were Aruba’s highest-value exported product at 52.5% of the island’s total. In second place were alcoholic beverages including spirits and liqueurs (10.4%) trailed by jewelry (6.7%), iron or steel scrap (5.5%), non-alcoholic drinks excluding water, juice or milk (2.6%), wrist or pocket watches with no precious metal cases (1.4%), beauty, makeup and skin preparations (also 1.4%), copper waste or scrap (0.9%), miscellaneous aluminum items (0.9%) then electro-medical equipment including x-rays (0.7%).
Products Generating Aruba’s Best Trade Surpluses
The following types of Aruban 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.
- Furskins, artificial fur: US$139,000 (Reversing a -$4,000 deficit in 2022)
- Woodpulp: $74,000 (Down by -55.7% since 2022)
- Ores, slag, ash: $14,000 (Reversing a -$1,000 deficit in 2022)
Historically, Aruba has posted positive net exports in the international trade of nickel. This positive cashflow indicate Aruba’s competitive advantages under ores, slag and ash product category.
Products Causing Aruba’s Worst Trade Deficits
Aruba incurred an overall -US$1.43 billion trade deficit for 2023, expanding by 4.2% from -$1.37 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2022.
Below are exports from Aruba that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Aruba’s goods trail Aruban importer spending on foreign products.
- Machinery including computers: -US$111.8 million (Up by 13% since 2022)
- Vehicles: -$107.2 million (Up by 38.3%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: -$91.1 million (Down by -8.1%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$88.1 million (Up by 7.5%)
- Meat: -$59.5 million (Down by -9%)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: -$54.8 million (Down by -4.6%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefabricated buildings: -$48.9 million (Down by -14.4%)
- Gems, precious metals: -$48.5 million (Up by 11.8%)
- Dairy, eggs, honey: -$41.2 million (Up by 1.1%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$41 million (Up by 25.8%)
Aruba has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the machinery including computers plus the vehicles product categories.
Aruban Export Companies
Not one Aruban corporations rank among the Forbes Global 2000 listing.
Wikipedia also lists exports-related companies from Aruba, as does the e-commerce website Alibaba. Selected examples are shown below.
- Aruba Airlines (airliner)
- Caribbean Paint Factory (paint, coatings)
- Go! Trading (alcoholic drinks)
- Govaard Trading Company (auto parts)
- Mag Development Freezone (heavy equipment)
- N.V. Elmar (electricity)
In macroeconomic terms, Aruba’s total exported goods represent 2% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2023 ($5.657 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 2% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2023 equals the 2% for 2022. Those percentages suggest a relatively consistent reliance on products sold on international markets for Aruba’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Aruba’s unemployment rate averaged 5.691% in 2023 down from an average 6.6% for 2022, according to International Monetary Fund statistics.
Aruba’s capital city is Oranjestad.
See also Cuba’s Top 10 Exports, Jamaica’s Top 10 Exports and Colombia’s Top Trading Partners
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook, Central America and Caribbean: Aruba. Accessed on October 22, 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on October 22, 2024
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on October 22, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on October 22, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on October 22, 2024
United Nations, World Statistics Pocketbook: Aruba. Accessed on October 22, 2024
Wikipedia, Aruba. Accessed on October 22, 2024
Wikipedia, Category: Companies of Aruba by industry. Accessed on October 22, 2024
Wikipedia, Flag of Aruba. Accessed on October 22, 2024
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on October 22, 2024
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on October 22, 2024