That calculated dollar amount reflects a 42.2% increase from $1.56 billion 5 years earlier in 2021.
Year over year, the overall value of Rwandan exports dropped by -27% compared to $3 billion starting from 2024.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2025, Rwanda’s legal currency is the Rwandan franc which appreciated by 30.1% against the US dollar since 2021 and strengthened by 8.1% from 2024 to 2025. The stonger local Rwandan currency in 2025 made Rwanda’s exports paid for in weaker US dollars relatively more expensive for international buyers starting with American currency.
The top 5 most valuable exports from Rwanda by value are unwrought gold, coffee, niobium or zirconium ores and concentrates, processed petroleum oils then tea including flavored varieties.
Collectively, Rwanda’s 5 major exported goods represent approaching two-thirds (63.2%) of Rwanda’s shipments in 2025. Such a high percentage indicates a concentrated portfolio of Rwandan exports.
Rwanda’s Most Valuable Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 87.0% of products exported from Rwanda was bought by importers in: Democratic Republic Congo (39.5% of the Rwandan total), United Arab Emirates (25.7%), mainland China (7.2%), Luxembourg (2.4%), United States of America (1.9%), United Kingdom (1.79%), Uganda (1.76%), Belgium (1.6%), Egypt (1.57%), Pakistan (1.23%), Hong Kong (1.22%) and Burundi (1.16%).
From a continental perspective, 46.9% of Rwanda’s exports by value was delivered to fellow African nations countries while 40.4% was sold to importers in Asia.
Rwanda shipped another 10.6% worth of goods to buyers in Europe.
Smaller percentages went to customers in North America (1.9%), Oceania’s Australia and New Zealand (0.2%) then Latin America (0.01%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
Given Rwanda’s population of 14.2 million people, its total US$2.22 billion in 2025 exports translates to roughly $160 for every resident in the Central African nation. That dollar estimate surpasses the average $45 per capita calculated for one year earlier in 2024.
Rwanda’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Rwandan global shipments during 2025, 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 Rwanda.
- Gems, precious metals: US$521.4 million (23.5% of total exports)
- Ores, slag, ash: $306.3 million (13.8%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $256.5 million (11.5%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $131.7 million (5.9%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $121 million (5.4%)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $100.2 million (4.5%)
- Milling products, malt, starches: $82.1 million (3.7%)
- Fish: $64.3 million (2.9%)
- Cereals: $54.6 million (2.5%)
- Sugar, sugar confectionery: $49.2 million (2.2%)
Rwanda’s top 10 export product groupings generated 76% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Beverages, spirits and vinegar represents the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 57.9% from 2024 to 2025.
In second place for improving export sales was the ores, slag and ash grouping via a 39.7% advance, led by tungsten ores and concentrates.
Rwanda’s shipments of animal or vegetable fats, oils and waxes posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 38.5%.
The severest decliner among Rwanda’s top 10 export categories was gems and precious metals, thanks to a -65.5% year-over-year drop.
The above listed product groups are at the two-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level.
Drilling down to the more granular four-digit codes, unwrought gold represents Rwanda’s most valuable exported product at 23.4% of the African country’s total. In second place was coffee (6%), niobium or zirconium ores and concentrates (5.8%), processed petroleum oils (also 5.8%), tea including flavored versions (5.3%), palm oil (4.6%), tin ores and concentrates (4.4%), tungsten ores and concentrates (2.9%), whole frozen fish (2.5%) then rice (2.4%).
Products Generating Rwanda’s Best Trade Surpluses
The following types of Rwandan 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.
- Ores, slag, ash: US$306.1 million (Up by 41.4% since 2024)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $248.4 million (Up by 21.3%)
- Gems, precious metals: $220.1 million (Reversing a -$28.5 million deficit)
- Tin: $44.8 million (Up by 91.8%)
- Milling products, malt, starches: $23.2 million (Up by 81.1%)
- Lead: $8.1 million (Up by 0.6%)
- Gums, resins, other vegetable saps: $5.8 million (Up by 6.0%)
- Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $5.6 million (Up by 89.7%)
- Live animals: $2.76 million (Down by -50.9%)
- Meat: $1.66 million (Down by -46.1%)
Historically, Rwanda generates highly positive net exports in the international trade of niobium, tantalum, vanadium or zirconium ores and concentrates, these cashflows indicate Rwanda’s strong competitive advantages under the ores, slag and ash product category.
Products Causing Rwanda’s Worst Trade Deficits
Rwanda incurred an estimated -US$3.1 billion trade deficit for 2025, reducing by -6.4% from -$3.34 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2024.
Below are exports from Rwanda that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Rwanda’s goods trail Rwandan importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$580.7 million (Down by -1.2% since 2024)
- Vehicles: -$392.4 million (Up by 18.7%)
- Machinery including computers: -$325.5 million (Up by 23.7%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$313.3 million (Down by -24.1%)
- Cereals: -$258.6 million (Down by -11.2%)
- Iron, steel: -$165.2 million (Up by 15%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: -$160.3 million (Up by 46.1%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$141.3 million (Up by 4.6%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$140.4 million (Up by 43.7%)
- Sugar, sugar confectionery: -$109.2 million (Down by -8%)
Rwanda has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the mineral fuels including oil product category.
Rwandan Export Companies
Not one Rwandan corporation ranks on the Forbes Global 2000 list.
Wikipedia lists companies from Rwanda that are involved in export-related activities. Selected examples are shown below.
- Access Bank Rwanda (commercial bank)
- Bralirwa Brewery (beer, soft drinks)
- Great Lakes Energy (electricity)
- Rwanda Development Bank (financing institution)
- Terracom (mobile telecommunications)
In macroeconomic terms, Rwanda’s total exported goods represent an estimated 3.8% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2025 ($58.1 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 3.8% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2025 compares to 1% for 2024. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Rwanda’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of economic health is a country’s jobless rate. Rwanda’s unemployment rate averaged 11.36% for 2025, up from an average 11.33% in 2024 according to Macro Trends metrics.
Rwanda’s capital city is Kigali.
See also South Sudan’s Top 10 Exports, and Somalia’s Top 10 Exports, Top African Export Countries
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on September 2, 2026
Forbes, Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on September 2, 2026
International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (Domestic Currency per U.S. dollar, period average). Accessed on September 2, 2026
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Databases (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on September 2, 2026
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on September 2, 2026
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on September 2, 2026
Wikipedia, Flag of Rwanda. Accessed on September 2, 2026
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Rwanda. Accessed on September 2, 2026
Wikipedia, Rwanda. Accessed on September 2, 2026