A landlocked nation in south-central Asia, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan shipped US$1.5 billion worth of exported products around the world in 2025.

That projected dollar amount reflects a -25.7% slowdown compared to $2 billion 5 years earlier in 2021.

Year over year, the value of Afghanistan’s exported goods dropped by -12.8% from $1.7 billion in 2024.

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 43.8 million people, its total US$1.5 billion in 2025 exports translates to $34 for every resident in the economically depressed Asian nation. That estimated dollar metric lags the average $38 per resident one year earlier during 2024.

Afghanistan’s Top 10 Exports

The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Afghan 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 Afghanistan.

1. Fruits, nuts: US$700.1 million (47.4% of total exports)
2. Gums, resins, other vegetable saps: $144.3 million (9.8%)
3. Cotton: $141.2 million (9.6%)
4. Coffee, tea, spices: $113.3 million (7.7%)
5. Vegetables: $92.9 million (6.3%)
6. Mineral fuels including oil: $87.8 million (5.9%)
7. Oil seeds: $45.2 million (3.1%)
8. Textile floor coverings: $26.1 million (1.8%)
9. Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $22.2 million (1.5%)
10. Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $15.6 million (1.1%)

Afghanistan’s top 10 export categories accounted for 94.1% of the overall value of its global shipments.

Salt, sulphur, stone and cement represents the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 95.0% from 2024 to 2025.

In second place for improving export sales was textile floor coverings via a 55.3% upturn.

Afghanistan’s shipments of gums, resins and other vegetable saps posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 15.2%.

The leading decliner among Afghanistan’s top 10 export categories was vegetables, pulled down by a -61.4% year-over-year drop.

At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, miscellaneous nuts represent Afghanistan’s most valuable exported product accounting for 15.6% of the country’s total. In second place were figs and dates (13%), fresh or dried grapes (12%), natural gums, resins and balsams (9.8%), cotton (9.5%), coal including solid fuels made from coal (5.9%), spices including saffron and ginger (4.6%), seeds such as coriander, cumin or caraway and juniper berries (3%), dried fruit (2.8%) then fresh apples and pears (2.6%).

Added together, the 10 most valuable Afghani exported goods exceeded three-quarters (78.7%) 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.

1. Fruits, nuts: US$634.6 million (Up by 17.2% since 2024)
2. Gums, resins, other vegetable saps: $144.1 million (Up by 16.4%)
3. Cotton: $123.4 million (Down by -34.2%)
4. Coffee, tea, spices: $95.5 million (Up by 48.3%)
5. Textile floor coverings: $19.4 million (Up by 273.1%)
6. Oil seeds: $8.9 million (Down by -61.1%)
7. Collector items, art, antiques: $6.1 million (Up by 2.1%)
8. Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $3.7 million (Down by -18.2%)
9. Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $3.3 million (Down by -76.2%)
10. Ores, slag, ash: $2 million (Up by 46.8%)

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$3.4 billion trade deficit for 2025, reducing by -49.3% from -$6.8 billion in red ink one year earlier during 2024.

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.

1. Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: -US$654.7 million (Up by 94.5% since 2023)
2. Electrical machinery, equipment: -$397.4 million (Down by -24%)
3. Pharmaceuticals: -$348.3 million (Down by -14%)
4. Machinery including computers: -$295.9 million (Down by -51.8%)
5. Cereals: -$288.7 million (Down by -35.5%)
6. Vehicles: -$280 million (Down by -7.1%)
7. Milling products, malt, starches: -$274.8 million (Down by -58.5%)
8. Manmade filaments: -$230.2 million (Down by -0.5%)
9. Manmade staple fibers: -$214.1 million (Up by 13%)
10. Rubber, rubber articles: -$124.3 million (Down by -42.2%)

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 13.4% in 2025, down from an average 13.69% 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 2, 2026

Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on August 2, 2026

International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on August 2, 2026

International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on August 2, 2026

Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on August 2, 2026

Wikipedia, Afghanistan. Accessed on August 2, 2026

Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on August 2, 2026

Wikipedia, List of Companies of Afghanistan. Accessed on August 2, 2026

Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on August 2, 2026