That dollar amount results from a 68.8% advance from $4.28 billion 5 years earlier in 2019.
Year over year, the total value of Zimbabwean exports grew by 9.7% compared to $6.6 billion starting from 2022.
The US dollar is the official currency of Zimbabwe, and is used for international trade.
Zimbabwe’s Major Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 91.5% of products exported from Zimbabwe was bought by importers in: South Africa (30.9% of the Zimbabwean total), United Arab Emirates (26.4%), mainland China (17.7%), Mozambique (5.5%), Belgium (2.9%), Hong Kong (2.4%), Zambia (2%), Netherlands (1%), Vietnam (0.73%), Italy (0.69%), Indonesia (0.67%) and Canada (0.58%).
From a continental perspective, 51.4% of Zimbabwe’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 42.1% was sold to importers in fellow African nations. Zimbabwe shipped another 5.5% worth of goods to Europe.
Smaller percentages went to North America (0.98%), Latin America (0.03%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean then Oceania (0.002%) Australia and New Zealand.
Given Zimbabwe’s population of 16.2 million people, its total $7.23 billion in 2023 exports translates to roughly $450 for every resident in the southern African country. That dollar metric exceeds the average $200 per capita one year earlier during 2022.
Zimbabwe’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Zimbabwean global shipments during 2023 at the 2-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Zimbabwe.
- Gems, precious metals: US$2.3 billion (31.2% of total exports)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $1.3 billion (18%)
- Nickel: $989.7 million (13.7%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $922.1 million (12.8%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $735.1 million (10.2%)
- Iron, steel: $390.2 million (5.4%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $204.3 million (2.8%)
- Sugar, sugar confectionery: $58 million (0.8%)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $36.6 million (0.5%)
- Cotton: $34.8 million (0.5%)
Zimbabwe’s top 10 export product categories generated 95.8% of the overall value of Zimbabwean global shipments.
Salt, sulphur, stone and cement was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 663.1% from 2022 to 2023.
In second place for improving export sales was sugar both as materials including sugar confectionery, via a 109.4% upturn.
Zimbabwe’s shipments of raw hides, skins other than furskins, plus leather posted the third-fastest gain in value up by 42.5%.
The leading decliner among Zimbabwe’s top 10 export categories was ores, slag and ash, recording a -36.1% year-over-year drop. That category was pulled down by falling revenues from Zimbabwean exported nickel ores and concentrates.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, Zimbabwe’s most valuable exported products in 2023 was unwrought gold (34.7% of Zimbabwe’s total export revenues). In second place was unmanufactured tobacco including tobacco waste (16.5%), nickel matte and oxide sinters (13.7%), vermiculite and perlite (12.2%), nickel ores and concentrates (9%), iron ferroalloys (5.3%), unmounted and unset diamonds (4.5%), coke and semi-coke (2.2%), unwrought platinum (1.7%), then chromium ores and concentrates (1.2%).
Products Creating Zimbabwe’s Largest Trade Surpluses
The following types of Zimbabwean 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.
- Gems, precious metals: US$2.3 billion (Down by -3.8% since 2022)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $1.2 billion (Up by 28.1%)
- Nickel: $989.6 million (Down by -3.4%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $812 million (Up by 2615.4%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $734 million (Down by -36%)
- Iron, steel: $103 million (Up by 0.4%)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $35.3 million (Up by 51.7%)
- Cotton: $31.3 million (Down by -26.9%)
- Fruits, nuts: $21 million (Down by -22.4%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $20.3 million (Down by -2.8%)
Zimbabwe has positive net exports in the international trade of gold, diamonds and platinum. In turn, these cashflows indicate Zimbabwe’s strong competitive advantages under the gems and precious metals product category.
Products Causing Zimbabwe’s Worst Trade Deficits
Zimbabwe racked up a -US$1.98 billion trade deficit for 2023, falling by -2.1% from -$2.02 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2022.
Below are exports from Zimbabwe that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Zimbabwe’s goods trail Zimbabwean importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$1.7 billion (Up by 12.1% since 2022)
- Machinery including computers: -$1.2 billion (Up by 0.1%)
- Vehicles: -$764.2 million (Up by 7.5%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$574.1 million (Up by 29.1%)
- Cereals: -$452.6 million (Up by 53%)
- Fertilizers: -$387.1 million (Down by -13.5%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$311.5 million (Down by -16.8%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$276.2 million (Up by 3.1%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: -$274 million (Down by -25.4%)
- Other chemical goods: -$243.7 million (Up by 8.6%)
Zimbabwe has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for refined petroleum oils, electrical energy and petroleum gas under the mineral fuels-related product category.
Zimbabwean Export Companies
Not one Zimbabwean corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia does list exporters from Zimbabwe. Selected examples are shown below.
- Border Timbers (forestry products)
- Colcom Foods Limited (meat processing)
- Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (cotton lint, cottonseed)
- Dairibord Zimbabwe Ltd (milk, other dairy products)
- Hippo Valley Estate (sugar)
- Sable Chemicals (fertilizer, ammonia nitrate)
- Tanganda Tea (tea, coffee)
- Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (iron, steel)
In macroeconomic terms, Zimbabwe’s total exported goods represent 15.4% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2023 ($47 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 15.4% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2023 compares to 7.1% for 2022. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Zimbabwe’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Zimbabwe’s unemployment rate averaged 7.95% for 2023, down from an average 8.07% in 2022 according to MacroTrends.net.
Zimbabwe’s capital city is Harare.
See also Zimbabwe’s Top 10 Imports, Top African Export Countries, South Africa’s Top 100 Imported Consumer Products and Nigeria’s Top 10 Exports
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook, Africa: Zimbabwe. Accessed on September 18, 2024
Forbes 2023 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on September 18, 2024
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on September 18, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on September 18, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on September 18, 2024
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on September 18, 2024
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Zimbabwe. Accessed on September 18, 2024
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on September 18, 2024
Wikipedia, Zimbabwe. Accessed on September 18, 2024