A South Asian island country in the Indian Ocean, the Republic of Maldives shipped US$158.4 million worth of exported products around the globe in 2022.

That dollar amount reflects a -12.8% decrease from $181.7 million five years earlier in 2018.

Year over year, the value of Maldivian exported goods rose 4.5% compared to $151.6 million during 2021.

Based on the average exchange rate for 2022, the Maldivian rufiyaa appreciated by 0.03% against the US dollar since 2018 but depreciated by -0.1% from 2021 to 2022. Maldives’ weaker local currency compared to 2021 makes its exports paid for in stronger US dollars slightly less expensive for international buyers.

Maldives’ Major Trading Partners

The latest available country-specific data shows that 92.8% of products exported from Maldives were bought by importers in: Thailand (49.1% of the Maldivian total), Germany (9.5%), United Kingdom (8.5%), Mauritius (5.4%), India (4.1%), France (3.7%), Bangladesh (2.4%), Switzerland (2.22%), Italy (2.16%), Netherlands (1.93%), Japan (1.9%) and the United States of America (1.83%).

From a continental perspective, 61.6% of Maldives’ exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 30.6% was sold to importers in Europe. Maldives shipped another 5.6% worth of goods to Africa.

Tinier percentages went to North America (1.9%), and Costa Rica (0.3%) for Latin America plus the Caribbean.

Given Maldives’ population of 391,000 people according to data from the International Monetary Fund, its total $158.4 million in 2022 exports translates to roughly $405 for every resident on the South Asian island. That dollar metric is slightly higher than the average $400 per capita one year earlier for 2021.

Maldives’ Top 10 Exports

The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Maldivian global shipments during 2022 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 the Maldives.

1. Fish: US$114.4 million (72.2% of total exports)
2. Meat/seafood preparations: $33.1 million (20.9%)
3. Iron, steel: $4.9 million (3.1%)
4. Food industry waste, animal fodder: $3.9 million (2.4%)
5. Copper: $648,000 (0.4%)
6. Electrical machinery, equipment: $428,000 (0.3%)
7. Aluminum: $326,000 (0.2%)
8. Mineral fuels including oil: $228,000 (0.1%)
9. Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $163,000 (0.1%)
10. Plastics, plastic articles: $145,000 (0.1%)

Maldives’ top 10 export categories accounted for 99.9% of the overall value of its global shipments.

Electrical machinery and equipment was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 2,153% from 2021 to 2022.

In second place for improving export sales was mineral fuels including oil via a 153.3% advance.

Maldives’s shipments of plastics, both as materials and items made from plastic, posted the third-fastest gain in value up by 70.6%.

The leading decliner among Maldives’s top 10 export categories was salt, sulphur, stone and cement, pulled down by a -39.9% year-over-year drop.

Drilling down to the more granular four-digit HTS codes, frozen whole fish represents Maldives’ most valuable exported product at over half (57.1%) of overall Maldivian international sales. In second place were preserved or prepared fish including caviar (20.9%), fish fillets and pieces (8.8%), whole fresh fish (3.5%), iron or steel scrap (3.1%), inedible meat flour (2.4%), dried, salted or smoked fish (1.9%), live fish (0.4%), copper waste or scrap (0.4%) then flours from aquatic invertebrates (also 0.4%).

Products Creating Maldives’ Best Trade Surpluses

The following types of Maldivian 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.

1. Fish: US$83.5 million (Down by -0.8% since 2021)
2. Meat/seafood preparations: $20.7 million (Down by -8.0%)
3. Food industry waste, animal fodder: $2.6 million (Up by 11.9%)
4. Woodpulp: $6,000 (Reversing a -$1,000 deficit)

The Maldives posted highly positive net exports in the international trade of fish and related products. In turn, these cashflows indicate strong Maldivian competitive advantages for fish–one of only three categories under which the Maldives ran a product surplus.

Products Causing Maldives’ Worst Trade Deficits

The Maldives incurred -US$3.36 billion trade deficit for 2022, expanding by 38.5% from -$2.43 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2021.

Below are exports from the Maldives that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on goods from home country Maldives trail Maldivian importer spending on foreign products.

1. Mineral fuels including oil: -US$834.8 million (Up by 82% since 2021)
2. Machinery including computers: -$313.6 million (Up by 15.3%)
3. Electrical machinery, equipment: -$285.2 million (Up by 28.5%)
4. Aircraft, spacecraft: -$111.4 million (Up by 113.9%)
5. Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: -$108.8 million (Up by 26.7%)
6. Articles of iron or steel: -$108.2 million (Up by 73.7%)
7. Plastics, plastic articles: -$100.5 million (Up by 40.7%)
8. Meat: -$97 million (Up by 38.6%)
9. Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefabricated buildings: -$91.3 million (Up by 21.5%)
10. Wood: -$90.2 million (Up by 52.1%)

The Maldives has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the machinery including computers category, particularly for refined petroleum oils and petroleum gases.

Maldivian Export Companies

Not one Maldivian corporation ranks on the Forbes Global 2000 list.

Wikipedia lists companies from the Maldives that are involved in businesses that intersect with international trade. Selected examples are shown below.

• Bank of Maldives Plc (branch bank)
• Dhiraagu (telecommunications)
• Maldivian, Island Aviation Services division (airliner)
• Ooredoo Maldives (mobile phone operator)
• Raajjé Online (internet service provider)

 
In macroeconomic terms, Maldives’ total exported goods represent 1.2% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2022 ($13 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 1.2% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2022 compares to 1.5% for 2021. Those percentages suggest a decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Maldives’ total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.

Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Maldives’ unemployment rate averaged 4.9% for 2022, down from an average 6.1% in 2021 according to Trading Economics.

Malé is the capital city for the Maldives.

See also Thailand’s Top 10 Exports, Sri Lanka’s Top 10 Exports, Germany’s Top Trading Partners, India’s Top Trading Partners

Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook South Asia: Maldives. Accessed on June 26, 2023

Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on June 26, 2023

International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (Domestic Currency per U.S. dollar, period average). Accessed on June 26, 2023

International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on June 26, 2023

International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on June 26, 2023

Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on June 26, 2023

Wikipedia, Flag of Maldives. Accessed on June 26, 2023

Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on June 26, 2023

Wikipedia, List of Companies of the Maldives. Accessed on June 26, 2023

Wikipedia, Maldives. Accessed on June 26, 2023

Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on June 26, 2023