The world’s leading exported product category was mineral fuels including oil, overtaking electrical machinery and equipment one year earlier in 2021. That category accounted for 16.4% of overall worldwide sales for all products which totaled US$24.487 trillion for 2022. Electrical machinery and equipment generated 14.7% of the global exports total, ahead of the machinery including computers product category at 10.3% then exported vehicles taking a 6.6% share.
The most valuable exported products classified as mineral fuels including oil are crude oil (41.9% of total revenues for mineral fuels-related items), refined petroleum oils (31.4%), petroleum gases (21.9%) and coal (6.6%).
Best-selling exported goods considered electrical machinery and equipment are led by electronic integrated circuits including parts (27.2% of electronics-related items), telephone sets including smartphones (14.5%), semi-conductor components including diodes and transistors (4.3%), then insulated wire or cable (4%).
Drilling down on all export product categories, those attracting the fastest-growing sales year over year were fertilizers (up 57.6% compared to 2021), mineral fuels including oil (up 57.4%), inorganic chemicals (up 41.8%), and nickel (up 40%).
World’s Top Export Products
Below are the world’s top export product categories that generated the highest dollar values during 2022. Also shown is the change in value for each product group from 2021 to 2022.
Rank | Product Category | Exports (US$) | YoY |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Mineral fuels including oil | $4,022,278,470,000 | +57.4% |
2 | Electrical machinery, equipment | $3,598,780,672,000 | '+5.9% |
3 | Machinery including computers | $2,529,099,560,000 | '+1.5% |
4 | Vehicles | $1,606,362,470,000 | '+6.3% |
5 | Gems, precious metals | $867,938,213,000 | '+1.6% |
6 | Pharmaceuticals | $843,989,489,000 | '+1.9% |
7 | Plastics, plastic articles | $817,757,555,000 | '+1.3% |
8 | Optical, technical, medical apparatus | $650,778,024,000 | '-4.5% |
9 | Iron, steel | $565,295,841,000 | +1.1% |
10 | Organic chemicals | $540,207,811,000 | +11% |
11 | Ores, slag, ash | $394,899,972,000 | +9% |
12 | Other chemical goods | $326,429,002,000 | +15% |
13 | Ores, slag, ash | $325,554,446,000 | '-14.3% |
14 | Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefab buildings | $317,201,354,000 | '-2.3% |
15 | Knit or crochet clothing, accessories | $298,200,227,000 | +9.5% |
16 | Aluminum | $280,878,206,000 | '+17.3% |
17 | Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet) | $261,426,107,000 | '+11.9% |
18 | Aircraft, spacecraft | $249,447,672,000 | '+9.3% |
19 | Inorganic chemicals | $229,047,388,000 | +41.8% |
20 | Rubber, rubber articles | $218,942,541,000 | '-3.5% |
21 | Copper | $216,010,509,000 | '-1.8% |
22 | Paper, paper items | $210,937,638,000 | '+12.8% |
23 | Footwear | $188,990,098,000 | +23% |
24 | Wood | $183,594,088,000 | -0.7% |
25 | Cereals | $176,291,757,000 | '+15.5% |
26 | Toys, games | $174,438,167,000 | +0% |
27 | Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes | $174,041,422,000 | '+16.9% |
28 | Perfumes, cosmetics | $165,057,165,000 | '-1.5% |
29 | Meat | $164,031,565,000 | +8% |
30 | Oil seeds | $152,092,638,000 | '+19.2% |
31 | Beverages, spirits, vinegar | $147,909,530,000 | '+5.1% |
32 | Fish | $146,756,176,000 | '+9.8% |
33 | Fruits, nuts | $136,338,674,000 | -6.7% |
34 | Fertilizers | $133,256,875,000 | '+57.6% |
35 | Ships, boats | $120,632,994,000 | -1.3% |
36 | Dairy, eggs, honey | $111,366,729,000 | '+8.5% |
37 | Food industry waste, animal fodder | $107,831,647,000 | '+8.3% |
38 | Leather/animal gut articles | $103,263,120,000 | +16% |
39 | Miscellaneous food preparations | $98,207,005,000 | '+2.8% |
40 | Cereal/milk preparations | $95,835,934,000 | +8.2% |
41 | Glass | $92,845,335,000 | '+3.4% |
42 | Tanning, dyes, paints, varnishes, ink | $91,727,234,000 | '-3.6% |
43 | Other base metal goods | $86,414,138,000 | +2.8% |
44 | Miscellaneous textiles, worn clothing | $85,115,030,000 | '-7% |
45 | Vegetables | $83,195,694,000 | '-0.2% |
46 | Vegetable/fruit/nut preparations | $77,444,763,000 | '+8.2% |
47 | Soaps, wash preparations, lubricants, waxes | $77,420,747,000 | '+2.2% |
48 | Ceramic products | $75,885,428,000 | '+4.6% |
49 | Base metal tools, cutlery | $75,643,158,000 | '-1.1% |
50 | Salt, sulphur, stone, cement | $68,519,420,000 | '+30.8% |
51 | Coffee, tea, spices | $67,186,987,000 | '+13.5% |
52 | Stone, plaster, cement, asbestos | $64,578,889,000 | '+2.8% |
53 | Miscellaneous manufactured articles | $64,017,882,000 | '+6.1% |
54 | Cotton | $63,206,553,000 | '+0.7% |
55 | Meat/seafood preparations | $61,658,644,000 | '+4.7% |
56 | Manmade filaments | $58,321,602,000 | '+6.4% |
57 | Woodpulp | $58,217,747,000 | '+11.5% |
58 | Sugar, sugar confectionery | $56,693,535,000 | '+15.7% |
59 | Clocks , watches including parts | $55,608,906,000 | +1% |
60 | Cocoa | $54,470,529,000 | '-3.7% |
61 | Railways, streetcars | $50,282,746,000 | -8.9% |
62 | Tobacco, manufactured substitutes | $47,096,710,000 | '+6.5% |
63 | Modified starches, glues, enzymes | $42,840,710,000 | '+9.7% |
64 | Knit or crochet fabric | $42,670,727,000 | '-0.4% |
65 | Nickel | $40,993,683,000 | +40% |
66 | Manmade staple fibers | $38,945,103,000 | '+4.8% |
67 | Books, newspapers, pictures | $35,251,024,000 | '-6.5% |
68 | Collector items, art, antiques | $33,849,018,000 | +21% |
69 | Felt, yarn, twine, ropes, cables | $31,414,480,000 | -3.8% |
70 | Coated/laminated textile fabric | $29,159,979,000 | +3% |
71 | Milling products, malt, starches | $27,347,584,000 | +15% |
72 | Other base metals | $24,074,348,000 | '+29.1% |
73 | Live trees, plants, cut flowers | $23,951,613,000 | '-14.3% |
74 | Zinc | $22,687,124,000 | +14.5% |
75 | Live animals | $22,648,176,000 | '-5.3% |
76 | Arms, ammunition | $21,710,933,000 | '+17.1% |
77 | Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather | $18,091,636,000 | '-3.7% |
78 | Textile floor coverings | $16,805,039,000 | -9% |
79 | Headgear | $15,747,003,000 | '+22.8% |
80 | Feathers, artificial flowers, hair | $15,382,932,000 | '-3.9% |
81 | Photo/cinematographic goods | $15,186,014,000 | '-3.2% |
82 | Special woven/tufted fabric, embroidery | $12,956,587,000 | '+1.5% |
83 | Wool | $11,984,115,000 | '+6.4% |
84 | Miscellaneous animal-origin products | $11,954,129,000 | '+4.2% |
85 | Gums, resins, other vegetable saps | $11,111,706,000 | +19.2% |
86 | Lead | $8,503,283,000 | '-3.3% |
87 | Tin | $8,479,527,000 | -2.9% |
88 | Musical instruments | $8,380,231,000 | +0% |
89 | Paper yarn, woven fabric | $6,212,469,000 | '+5.4% |
90 | Explosives, pyrotechnics, matches | $5,331,542,000 | '+18.6% |
91 | Umbrellas, walking-sticks | $4,649,126,000 | '+15.4% |
92 | Furskins, artificial fur | $4,422,944,000 | '-29.3% |
93 | Plaiting products, basketware.wickerwork | $3,476,398,000 | '-6.8% |
94 | Cork , articles of cork | $2,187,833,000 | '-1.7% |
95 | Silk | $1,923,197,000 | '+26.5% |
96 | Vegetable plaiting materials | $1,647,902,000 | '+13.8% |
In total, the top 20 product groups accounted for over three-quarters (77.4%) of global exports in 2022. The 20 top export product categories increased by an average 27.8% in 2022 compared to 2018, an increase greater than the 26.7% benchmark gain over 5 years for all export product categories.
From 2021 to 2022, the average gain for the top 20 product groups was 8.9% which falls exceeds the benchmark 10.6% year-over-year advance for all categories.
Widening our scope to the latest 5-year period, the greatest percentage sales increases were recorded by the fertilizers (up 125.9% from 2018), animal or vegetable fats, oils and waxes (up 85.3%), feathers, artificial flowers and hair (up 64.8%), nickel (up 61%), inorganic chemicals (up 60.9%), and mineral fuels including oil (up 60.7%) product categories.
Leading the declining product categories since 2018 were furskins and artificial fur (down -52.6%) and the capital-intensive aircraft and spacecraft category (down -26.2%).
See also Electronic Circuit Component Exports by Country, Crude Oil Exports by Country, Car Exports by Country Plus Average Prices Per Car and Cellphone Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, Field Listing: Exports, Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed on August 11, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on August 11, 2023