That dollar amount reflects a 3.5% increase compared to $244.9 million 5 years earlier during 2019.
From 2022 to 2023, the overall value of Belizean exports fell -11.5% from $286.4 million.
The only country in Central America having English as its official language, Belize is located along Central America’s eastern cost and shares its northern land border with Mexico. In the real world, however, English-based Kriol (also called Belizean Creole) is the language most native Belizeans speak from day to day.
Belize’s Top Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 90.2% of products exported from Belize was bought by importers in: United States of America (28% of the Belizean total), United Kingdom (17.3%), Guatemala (8.7%), Spain (7.4%), Trinidad and Tobago (6.1%), Honduras (5.6%), Jamaica (4.2%), Poland (4%), Ireland (3.6%), Mexico (2.7%), Barbados (1.5%) and Taiwan (1%).
From a continental perspective, 35.3% of Belize’s exports by value was delivered to fellow European countries while 31.6% was sold to importers in Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean. Belize shipped another 30.8% worth of goods to North America.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in Asia (1.9%), Oceania’s Australia and New Zealand only (0.4%), then Africa’s Togo only (0.02%).
Given Belize’s population of 451,000 people, its total $253.4 million in 2023 exports translates to roughly $560 for every resident in the Central American nation. That per-capita amount lags the average $650 for 2022.
Belize’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Belizean global shipments during 2023. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Belize.
- Sugar, sugar confectionery: US$86.9 million (34.3% of total exports)
- Fruits, nuts: $33.2 million (13.1%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $21.3 million (8.4%)
- Fish: $20.2 million (8%)
- Food industry waste, animal fodder: $16.6 million (6.6%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $14.2 million (5.6%)
- Vegetable/fruit/nut preparations: $12.6 million (5%)
- Vegetables: $4.5 million (1.8%)
- Miscellaneous food preparations: $4.5 million (1.8%)
- Live animals: $4.1 million (1.6%)
Belize’s top 10 exports accounted for 86.1% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Miscellaneous food preparations was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 19.7% from 2022 to 2023.
In second place for improving export sales was live animals via a 4.2% uptick.
Belize’s shipments of sugar including confectionery made from sugar posted the remaining gain in value, up by 2.4%.
The leading decliner among Belize’s top 10 export categories was vegetables, pulled down by a -37.1% year-over-year drop.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, sugar (31.2% of its global total) is Belize’s most valuable exported product. In second place were bananas and plantains (12.7%) trailed by processed petroleum oils (8.2%), bran and other residues (6.5%), cigarettes, cigars and cigarellos (5.6%), crustaceans including lobsters (5.3%), fruit or vegetable juices (4.9%), molasses (3.1%), moluscs (2.6%) then dried shelled vegetables (1.8%).
Products Generating Greatest Trade Surpluses for Belize
The following types of Belizean 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.
- Sugar, sugar confectionery: US$85.8 million (Up by 2.8% since 2022)
- Fruits, nuts: $32.7 million (Down by -19.2%)
- Fish: $20 million (Down by -25.9%)
- Food industry waste, animal fodder: $4 million (Down by -65.4%)
- Live animals: $2.8 million (Up by 6.7%)
- Vegetable/fruit/nut preparations: $2.7 million (Down by -74.1%)
- Vegetables: $2.5 million (Down by -49.2%)
Belize has highly positive net exports in the international trade particularly for sugar and molasses. In turn, these cashflows indicate Belize’s strong competitive advantages under the sugar and sugar confectionery product category.
Products Causing Biggest Trade Deficits for Belize
Belize incurred an overall -US$1.084 billion product trade deficit for 2023, flatlining by -0.7% from the -$1.092 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2022.
Below are exports from Belize that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Belize’s goods trail Belizean importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$176.7 million (Down by -5.1% since 2022)
- Machinery including computers: -$136.2 million (Down by -2.3%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$78 million (Up by 17%)
- Vehicles: -$75.1 million (Up by 14.6%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$47.8 million (Down by -1.2%)
- Footwear: -$38.1 million (Down by -18.7%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: -$38 million (Down by -23.4%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$37.5 million (Down by -10.9%)
- Iron, steel: -$36 million (Down by -0.5%)
- Knit or crochet clothing, accessories: -$35.4 million (Down by -9.1%)
Belize has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits notably for refined petroleum oils and petroleum gas under the mineral fuels including oil product category.
Belize’s Export Companies
Not one Belizean corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia does list exports-related companies from Belize. Selected examples are shown below.
- Amandala (tabloid newspaper)
- Belize Bank (banking)
- Belize Telemedia Limited (mobile telecommunications)
- Great Belize Productions (broadcasting production)
- Love Belize Television (cable television)
- Maya Island Air (airliner)
- RSV Media Center (broadcaster including radio)
- Smartnet IBC Ltd (website communities for artists)
- Speednet Communications (telecommunications)
- Tropic Air (airliner)
In macroeconomic terms, Belize’s total exported goods represent 5.2% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2023 ($4.92 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 5.2% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2023 compares to 6.2% for 2022. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Belize’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Belize’s unemployment rate averaged 3.4% in 2023, down from an average 6.071% one year earlier in 2022 per International Monetary Fund’s statistics.
Belize’s capital city is Belmopan.
See also Costa Rica’s Top 10 Exports, Guatemala’s Top 10 Exports, United States Top 10 Exports and Top Central American Export Countries
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Central America: Belize. Accessed on October 23, 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on October 23, 2024
International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (Domestic Currency per U.S. dollar, period average)
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on October 23, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on October 23, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on October 23, 2024
Wikipedia, Belize. Accessed on October 23, 2024
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on October 23, 2024
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Belize. Accessed on October 23, 2024
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on October 23, 2024
Wikipedia, Latvia. Accessed on October 23, 2024