That projected dollar amount reflects a -11.6% slowdown compared to $1.82 billion 5 years earlier in 2020.
Year over year, the value of Afghanistan’s exported goods dropped by -5.3% from $1.7 billion in 2023.
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 42.6 million people, its total $1.61 billion in 2024 exports translates to $38 for every resident in the economically depressed Asian nation. That estimated dollar metric lags the average $40 per resident one year earlier during 2023.
Afghanistan’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Afghan global shipments during 2024, 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$590.7 million (36.6% of total exports)
- Vegetables: $236.5 million (14.7%)
- Cotton: $226.5 million (14.1%)
- Gums, resins, other vegetable saps: $124.8 million (7.7%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $110.4 million (6.8%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $106 million (6.6%)
- Oil seeds: $60.7 million (3.8%)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $32 million (2%)
- Textile floor coverings: $16.4 million (1%)
- Gems, precious metals: $14.5 million (0.9%)
Afghanistan’s top 10 export categories accounted for 94.2% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Cotton was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 64.6% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for improving export sales was gems and precious metals via a 62.9% advance, led by gold.
Afghanistan’s shipments of beverages, spirits and vinegar posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 46.8%.
The leading decliner among Afghanistan’s top 10 export categories was mineral fuels including oil, recording a -54.8% year-over-year drop.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, cotton represents Afghanistan’s most valuable exported product accounting for 14% of the country’s total. In second place were figs and dates (10.8%), natural gums, resins and balsams (7.7%), miscellaneous nuts (7.5%), onions, garlic and leeks (6.8%), coal including solid fuels made from coal (5.5%), dried shelled vegetables (3.9%), spices including saffron and ginger (3.8%), then seeds such as coriander, cumin or caraway and juniper berries (3%).
Added together, the 10 most valuable Afghani exported goods approached three-quarters (73.6%) 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$519.7 million (Up by 13.5% since 2023)
- Cotton: $187.7 million (Up by 72.1%)
- Gums, resins, other vegetable saps: $123.9 million (Down by -19.3%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $76.2 million (Up by 552%)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $12.7 million (Reversing a -$25.4 million deficit)
- Oil seeds: $11.1 million (Reversing a -$120,000 deficit)
- Collector items, art, antiques: $5.1 million (Up by 238.9%)
- Gems, precious metals: $4.8 million (Reversing a -$237.7 million deficit)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $4.6 million (Down by -29.5%)
- Lead: $3.6 million (Down by -69%)
Historically, 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$4.6 billion trade deficit for 2024, reducing by -34.4% from -$7 billion in red ink one year earlier during 2023.
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.
- Milling products, malt, starches: -US$852.7 million (Up by 0.9% since 2023)
- Cereals: -$451.1 million (Up by 33.6%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: -$398 million (Down by -20.6%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$387.6 million (Up by 21.4%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$349 million (Down by -44.5%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: -$336.3 million (Down by -23.7%)
- Vehicles: -$300.6 million (Down by -11.4%)
- Sugar, sugar confectionery: -$252.2 million (Up by 175.3%)
- Machinery including computers: -$237.3 million (Down by -17.1%)
- Manmade filaments: -$222.4 million (Up by 31.8%)
Afghanistan has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits notably for 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 13.3% in 2024, down from an average 14% one year earlier according to Trading Economics statistics.
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 18, 2025
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on August 18, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on August 18, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on August 18, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on August 18, 2025
Wikipedia, Afghanistan. Accessed on August 18, 2025
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on August 18, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Afghanistan. Accessed on August 18, 2025
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on August 18, 2025