That estimated dollar amount results from a 55.7% rise from $10.2 billion during 2018.
Year over year, the overall value of Papua New Guinean exports accelerated by 64.4% compared to $9.66 billion in 2021.
The top 5 most valuable goods exported from Papua New Guinea are petroleum gases, unwrought gold, nickel matte and oxide sinters, copper ores and concentrates, and crude petroleum oil. Revealing a concentrated portfolio, those 5 leading product groups represent almost four-fifths (79.2%) of value of Papua New Guinea’s exports during 2022.
Papua New Guinea’s Major Trading Partners
The latest available data is from 2021. Those figures show that 90.4% of products exported from Papua New Guinea was bought by importers in: Japan (22.6% of Papua New Guinea’s global total), mainland China (18.2%), Australia (17.4%), Taiwan (7.1%), Singapore (6.6%), South Korea (4%), Netherlands (3.1%), Malaysia (2.9%), Philippines (2.6%), Hong Kong (2.2%), Germany (2%) and Switzerland (1.7%).
From a continental perspective, 68.4% of Papua New Guinea’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 17.8% was sold to importers in Oceania led by Australia. Papua New Guinea shipped another 12.4% worth of goods to Europe.
Tinier percentages went to importers in North America (1.5%), Africa (0.02%) then Latin America (0.01%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
Given Papua New Guinea’s population of 9.2 million people, its total $15.9 billion in exports translates to roughly $1,700 for every resident in the island country. That dollar metric exceeds the average $1,300 per capita one year earlier for 2021.
Papua New Guinea’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Papua New Guinean global shipments during 2022. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Papua New Guinea.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$9.8 billion (61.8% of total exports)
- Gems, precious metals: $1.8 billion (11.4%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $993.6 million (6.3%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $873.2 million (5.5%)
- Nickel: $768.1 million (4.8%)
- Wood: $647.8 million (4.1%)
- Meat/seafood preparations: $275.9 million (1.7%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $269.8 million (1.7%)
- Fish: $165.7 million (1%)
- Cocoa: $91.1 million (0.6%)
Papua New Guinea’s top 10 exports accounted for 99% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Nickel was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 175.9% from 2021 to 2022.
In second place for improving export sales was the mineral fuels-related product category via a 123.7% advance. That category was propelled by higher international sales of petroleum gases and refined petroleum oils.
Papua New Guinea’s shipments of wood posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 102.3%.
The severest decliner among Papua New Guinea’s top 10 export categories was fish, pulled down by a -58% year-over-year reduction.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, petroleum gases represent Papua New Guinea’s most valuable exported product at 54.6% of the country’s total. In second place was unwrought gold (10.6%) trailed by nickel matte and oxide sinters (4.8%), copper ores and concentrates (also 4.8%), crude oil (4.5%), palm oil (4.3%), rough wood (3.8%), processed petroleum oils (2.8%), prepared or preserved fish and caviar (1.7%), then coffee (1.5%).
Products Behind Papua New Guinea’s Best Trade Surpluses
Overall Papua New Guinea achieved an estimated $10.4 billion trade surplus for 2022, expanding by 101.1% from the $5.2 billion in black ink one year earlier.
The following types of Papua New Guinean 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$8.9 billion (Up by 132.6% since 2021)
- Gems, precious metals: $1.8 billion (Up by 8.5%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $992.2 million (Up by 5.4%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $781.7 million (Down by -9.8%)
- Nickel: $767.9 million (Up by 175.9%)
- Wood: $641.2 million (Up by 103.9%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $267.7 million (Up by 68.7%)
- Meat/seafood preparations: $226 million (Up by 27.8%)
- Fish: $141.3 million (Down by -62.3%)
- Cocoa: $83.7 million (Up by 5.1%)
Papua New Guinea has positive net exports in the international trade of petroleum gases and, to a lesser extent, crude oil. In turn, these cashflows indicate Papua New Guinea’s strong competitive advantages under the category named mineral fuels including oil.
Products Causing Papua New Guinea’s Worst Trade Deficits
Below are exports from Papua New Guinea that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Papua New Guinea’s goods trail Papua New Guinean importer spending on foreign products.
- Machinery including computers: -US$814.5 million (Up by 10% since 2021)
- Vehicles: -$364.9 million (Up by 40.5%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$314.4 million (Down by -4.1%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$248.3 million (Up by 48.8%)
- Cereals: -$239 million (Down by -10.1%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$177.8 million (Up by 30.6%)
- Meat: -$172.1 million (Up by 32.9%)
- Miscellaneous food preparations: -$147.8 million (Up by 32%)
- Iron, steel: -$112.1 million (Up by 10.9%)
- Other chemical goods: -$103.1 million (Up by 64.8%)
Papua New Guinea has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the machinery including computers category.
Papua New Guinean Export Companies
Not one Papua New Guinean corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia lists exports-related companies from Papua New Guinea. Selected examples are shown below.
- Bank South Pacific (international bank)
- InterOil (oil, gas)
- Liquid Niugini LNG (natural gas)
- Oil Search Limited (oil, gas)
- Ok Tedi Mining Limited (copper, gold mining)
- PNG Air (airliner)
In macroeconomic terms, Papua New Guinea’s total exported goods represent 40.5% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2022 ($39.2 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 40.5% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2022 compares to 33.7% for 2021. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Papua New Guinea’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Any key indicator for an economy’s health is the unemployment rate. Papua New Guinea’s unemployment rate averaged 2.8% in 2022, same jobless rate as in 2021 per Trading Economics.
Papua New Guinea’s capital city is Port Moresby, nicknamed “Pom City”.
See also Gold Exports by Country, Silver Exports by Country, Platinum Exports by Country and Capital Facts for Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on June 9, 2023
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on June 9, 2023
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on June 9, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on June 9, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on June 9, 2023
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on June 9, 2023
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Papua New Guinea. Accessed on June 9, 2023
Wikipedia, Papua New Guinea. Accessed on June 9, 2023
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on June 9, 2023