That dollar amount results from a 75.3% acceleration from $4.7 billion 5 years earlier in 2019.
Year over year, the total value of Mozambican exports flatlined via a 0.9% gain compared to $8.2 billion for 2022.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2023, the Mozambican metical depreciated by -3.8% against the US dollar since the end of December 2019 but strengthened by 0.4% from December 2022 to December 2023. Mozambique’s weaker local currency compared to 2019 makes its exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers.
Mozambique’s Best Exports Customers
The latest available country-specific data shows that 78.4% of products exported from Mozambique was bought by importers in: India (15.6% of the Mozambican total), mainland China (14.2%), South Africa (14%), South Korea (5.6%), United Kingdom (4.8%), Singapore (4.7%), Thailand (4.6%), Vietnam (3.9%), Netherlands (3.7%), Italy (2.9%), United Arab Emirates (2.2%) and Zimbabwe (2.1%).
From a continental perspective, 60.1% of Mozambique exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 19.7% was sold to fellow African nations importers. Mozambique shipped another 18.6% worth of goods to Europe.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in North America (1.5%), Latin America (0.05%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.004%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
Given Mozambique’s population of 33.9 million people, its total $8.3 billion in 2023 exports translates to roughly $240 for every resident in the southeast African nation. That per-capita metric lags the average $250 in 2022.
Mozambique’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups categorize the highest dollar value in Mozambican global shipments during 2023. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Mozambique.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$4.8 billion (57.6% of total exports)
- Aluminum: $1.3 billion (15.4%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $516.5 million (6.2%)
- Oil seeds: $278.1 million (3.4%)
- Gems, precious metals: $260.6 million (3.1%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $154.2 million (1.9%)
- Vegetables: $150.2 million (1.8%)
- Fruits, nuts: $128.1 million (1.5%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $128 million (1.5%)
- Fertilizers: $97.4 million (1.2%)
Mozambique’s top 10 export product categories are concentrated product categories, given that they represent 93.7% of the overall value of Mozambican global shipments.
Oil seeds represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 71% from 2022 to 2023.
In second place for improving export sales was gems and precious metals via a 62.5% advance, led by unstrung precious and semi-precious stones.
Mozambique’s shipments of mineral fuels including oil posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 18.1%.
The leading decliner among Mozambique’s top 10 export categories was vegetables, pulled down by a -33.8% year-over-year drop.
The product categories listed above is at the two-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level.
Drilling down to the more detailed four-digit HTS codes, Mozambique’s most valuable exported goods are coal including solid fuels made from coal (21.3% of Mozambican total), petroleum gases (20.9%), raw aluminum (13.2%), electrical energy (8%), coke and semi-coke (5.6%), titanium ores and concentrates (4.5%), unstrung precious or semi-precious shells (2.8%), aluminum wire (2%), unmanufactured tobacco including tobacco waste (1.9%), then oil seeds (also 1.9%).
Products Creating Mozambique’s Greatest Trade Surpluses
The following types of Mozambican 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$2.6 billion (Up by 84.1% since 2022)
- Aluminum: $1.2 billion (Down by -33.2%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $492.4 million (Down by -20.8%)
- Gems, precious metals: $260.3 million (Up by 62.6%)
- Oil seeds: $255.3 million (Up by 129.1%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $136.5 million (Up by 8%)
- Fruits, nuts: $117 million (Down by -11%)
- Vegetables: $92.1 million (Down by -45.5%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $47.3 million (Down by -23.2%)
- Feathers, artificial flowers, hair: $43.8 million (Up by 3.8%)
Mozambique has highly positive net exports in the international trade of coal and petroleum gas. In turn, these cashflows indicate Mozambique’s strong competitive advantages under the mineral fuels including oil product category.
Products Driving Mozambique’s Biggest Trade Deficits
Mozambique incurred an overall trade deficit of -US$1.82 billion during 2023, shrinking by -71.2% from -$6.31 billion one year earlier during 2022.
Below are exports from Mozambique that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Mozambique’s goods trail Mozambican importer spending on foreign products.
- Machinery including computers: -US$1.1 billion (Up by 46.4% since 2022)
- Vehicles: -$731.3 million (Up by 20.8%)
- Cereals: -$682.2 million (Up by 11.3%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$634.2 million (Up by 19.5%)
- Inorganic chemicals: -$472.9 million (Down by -15.6%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: -$318.2 million (Down by -11.8%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$296.1 million (Up by 3.6%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$217.8 million (Down by -3.2%)
- Base metal tools, cutlery: -$217.7 million (Up by 232.3%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$205.3 million (Down by -15.6%)
Mozambique has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the machinery including computers product category.
Mozambique’s Export Companies
Not one corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia does list a handful of companies from Mozambique that engage as players in international trade. Selected examples are shown below.
- Beira Railroad Corporation (port-access railroads)
- Illovo Sugar Limited (raw and refined sugar)
- Mozal (aluminum smelter)
- Telecomunicações de Moçambique (telecommunications, internet services)
In macroeconomic terms, Mozambique’s total exported goods represent 14.7% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2023 ($56.4 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 14.7% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2023 compares to 16.9% one year earlier. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Mozambique’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key metric indicating a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. The Mozambican unemployment rate averaged 3.54% for 2023, down from an average 3.62% jobless rate in 2022.
Mozambique’s capital city is Maputo.
See also Top African Export Countries, Top South African Trading Partners, Nigeria’s Top 10 Exports and Togo’s Top 10 Exports
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, Country Profiles, The World Factbook. Accessed on November 4, 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on November 4, 2024
International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (Domestic Currency per U.S. dollar, period average). Accessed on November 4, 2024
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on November 4, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on November 4, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on November 4, 2024
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on November 4, 2024
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Mozambique. Accessed on November 4, 2024
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on November 4, 2024