That projected dollar amount reflects an 85.2% acceleration compared to $863.8 million 5 years earlier in 2019.
Year over year, the value of Afghanistan’s exported goods dropped by -4.1% from $1.67 billion in 2022.
Afghanistan’s Main Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data from 2019 shows that 98% of products exported from Afghanistan was bought by importers in: India (47.5% of the Afghani total), Pakistan (34.5%), mainland China (3.6%), Turkey (2.9%), United Arab Emirates (2.7%), Iran (1.69%), Iraq (1.68%), Germany (1.4%), Saudi Arabia (1.1%), United States of America (0.35%), Kazakhstan (0.34%) and Tajikistan (0.28%).
From a continental perspective, 97.1% of Afghanistan’s exports by value was delivered to fellow Asian countries while 2.2% was sold to importers in Europe.
Tinier percentages went to North America (0.5%), Oceania led by Australia (0.1%) and Africa (0.03%).
Given Afghanistan’s population of 41.5 million people, its total $1.6 billion in 2023 exports translates to about $40 for every resident in the economically depressed Asian nation. That dollar metric far exceeds the average $4 per resident one year earlier during 2022.
Afghanistan’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Afghan global shipments during 2023, 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 Afghanistan.
- Fruits, nuts: US$585.4 million (36.6% of total exports)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $233.2 million (14.6%)
- Vegetables: $224.3 million (14%)
- Gums, resins, other vegetable saps: $156.1 million (9.8%)
- Cotton: $136.1 million (8.5%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $77.3 million (4.8%)
- Oil seeds: $42.8 million (2.7%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $26.3 million (1.6%)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $18 million (1.1%)
- Textile floor coverings: $17.6 million (1.1%)
Afghanistan’s top 10 export categories accounted for 94.8% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Beverages, spirits and vinegar was the fastest-grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 182% from 2022 to 2023.
Afghani exports of vegetables (up 35.7% from 2022) then fruits and nuts (up 30.9%) also recorded robust gains.
The leading decliner among Afghanistan’s top 10 export categories was salt, sulphur, stone and cement. That product category was pulled down by a -57.5% year-over-year drop.
In second place for decelerating export sales was mineral fuels including oil via a -42.7% decline.
Afghanistan’s shipments of cotton posted the third-fastest fall in value, down by -35%.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, coal including solid fuels made from coal represent Afghanistan’s most valuable exported product accounting for 13.8% of the country’s total. In second place were figs and dates (10.3%), natural gums, resins and balsams (9.7%), miscellaneous nuts (8.6%), raw cotton (8.5%), onions, garlic and leeks (5.3%), dried leguminous vegetables (4.7%), fresh or chilled tomatoes (2.9%) then spices including saffron and ginger (2.7%).
Added together, the 10 most valuable Afghani exported goods represent over three-quarters (76.1%) of the Asian country’s total shipments by dollar value.
Products Creating Afghanistan’s Best Trade Surpluses
The following types of Afghan 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.
- Fruits, nuts: US$532.4 million (Up by 110.1% since 2022)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $155.3 million (Reversing a -$479.9 million deficit)
- Gums, resins, other vegetable saps: $154.9 million (Up by 32%)
- Vegetables: $113.8 million (Reversing a -$40.8 million deficit)
- Cotton: $110.3 million (Down by -43.2%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $18.4 million (Reversing a -$35.8 million deficit)
- Textile floor coverings: $8.9 million (Reversing a -$45.5 million deficit)
- Lead: $7.8 million (Up by 32.8%)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $6.5 million (Down by -19.3%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $5.3 million (Down by -49.7%)
Traditionally, Afghanistan has posted highly positive net exports in the international trade of grapes and figs, pistachios, almonds and apricots. In turn, these cashflows indicate Afghanistan’s strong competitive advantages under the fruits and nuts product category.
Products Generating Afghanistan’s Biggest Trade Deficits
Afghanistan incurred an overall -US$2.73 billion trade deficit for 2023, down by -53.6% from -$5.9 billion in red ink one year earlier during 2022.
Below are exports from Afghanistan that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Afghanistan’s goods trail Afghan importer spending on foreign products.
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: -US$409.2 million (Down by -29.9% since 2022)
- Milling products, malt, starches: -$397.1 million (Down by -53.8%)
- Cereals: -$330.5 million (Down by -16.5%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$303.5 million (Down by -16.3%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$230.7 million (Down by -39.7%)
- Vehicles: -$166 million (Down by -28.4%)
- Manmade filaments: -$150.6 million (Up by 74.3%)
- Machinery including computers: -$143.5 million (Down by -27.5%)
- Miscellaneous food preparations: -$135 million (Down by -4.3%)
- Manmade staple fibers: -$133.2 million (Up by 131%)
Afghanistan has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits notably for animal or vegetable fats, oils or waxes, and milling products, malt and starches.
Afghan Export Companies
Not one Afghan corporation ranks among the Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia lists exports-related companies from Afghanistan. Selected examples are shown below.
- Afghanistan International Bank (commercial bank)
- AZ Corporation (construction materials)
- Khyber Afghan Airlines (cargo airliner)
- Spinzar Cotton Company (cotton)
- Watan Group (oil, mining and telecom conglomerate)
A key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Afghanistan’s unemployment rate averaged 15.4% in 2023, up from an average 14.1% one year earlier according to Trading Economics.
Afghanistan’s capital city is Kabul.
See also Pakistan’s Top Trading Partners, India’s Top Trading Partners, Top Cotton Exports by Country and Grapes Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on August 23, 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on August 23, 2024
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on August 23, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on August 23, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on August 23, 2024
Wikipedia, Afghanistan. Accessed on August 23, 2024
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on August 23, 2024
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Afghanistan. Accessed on August 23, 2024
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on August 23, 2024