That projected dollar amount reflects a -78.9% decrease from $875.2 million 5 years earlier in 2018.
Year over year, the value of Afghanistan’s exported goods dropped by -90.7% from $2 billion in 2021.
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 global 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 (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 41.1 million people, its total $184.3 million in 2022 exports translates to about $4 for every resident in the economically depressed Asian nation. That dollar metric falls well below the average $15 per resident one year earlier during 2021.
Afghanistan’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Afghan global shipments during 2022, 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$72.7 million (39.5% of total exports)
- Textile floor coverings: $23.3 million (12.7%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $10.8 million (5.9%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $8.8 million (4.8%)
- Cotton: $7.7 million (4.2%)
- Oil seeds: $6.9 million (3.7%)
- Gems, precious metals: $6.2 million (3.4%)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $5.3 million (2.9%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $4.6 million (2.5%)
- Wool: $4.3 million (2.3%)
Afghanistan’s top 10 exports accounted for 81.8% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Textile floor coverings including carpets was the sole grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 6.9% from 2021 to 2022.
The leading decliner among Afghanistan’s top 10 export categories was gems and precious metals, pulled down by a -98.6% year-over-year drop. That product category was driven by lower revenues from Afghani exports of precious and semi-precious stones.
In second place for decelerating export sales was cotton via a -95.4% decline.
Afghanistan’s shipments of fruits and nuts posted the third-fastest fall in value down by -88.7%.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, miscellaneous nuts represent Afghanistan’s most valuable exported product accounting for 27% of the country’s total. In second place were knotted textile floor coverings including carpets (9%), dried fruit (5.4%), fresh or dried grapes (5.2%), natural steatite (4%), raw cotton (3.3%), spices including saffron and ginger (3.3%), unstrung precious and semi-precious stones (also 3.3%), untuffed and non-flocked textile floor coverings including carpets (3%), then bovine or equine rawhides and skins.
Added together, the 10 most valuable Afghani exported goods represent about two-thirds (66%) 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$60.6 million (Down by -85.6% since 2021)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $7.9 million (Reversing a -$62.4 million deficit)
- Textile floor coverings: $7.8 million (Reversing a -$45.8 million deficit)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $5.3 million (Down by -0.4%)
- Wool: $3.8 million (Down by -6.2%)
- Miscellaneous animal-origin products: $3.3 million (Down by -28.1%)
- Aluminum: $1.1 million (Reversing a -$56.9 million deficit)
- Vegetable plaiting materials: $899,000 (Up by 170%)
- Lead: $739,000 (Down by -44.7%)
- Collector items, art, antiques: $559,000 (Down by -82.3%)
Traditionally, 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$1.95 billion trade deficit for 2022, down by -63.7% from -$5.4 billion in red ink one year earlier during 2021.
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.
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: -US$428.8 million (Up by 6% since 2021)
- Milling products, malt, starches: -$281.9 million (Down by -53.4%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$154.4 million (Down by -44.1%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: -$153.6 million (Down by -79.3%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$129.4 million (Down by -68.3%)
- Vehicles: -$98.6 million (Down by -68.3%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: -$95.9 million (Down by -49.4%)
- Machinery including computers: -$84.7 million (Down by -70.1%)
- Vegetables: -$51.1 million (Up by 35.4%)
- Manmade filaments: -$49.3 million (Down by -39.6%)
Afghanistan has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits notably for animal or vegetable fats, oils or waxes, and 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)
In macroeconomic terms, Afghanistan’s total exported goods represent an estimated 0.3% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2022 ($59 billion valued in Real US dollars). That 0.3% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2022 compares to 1.8% in 2021. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Afghanistan’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Afghanistan’s unemployment rate averaged 13.3% at the end of 2021, up from an average 11.7% one year earlier according to Trading Economics.
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 July 4, 2023
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 4, 2023
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on July 4, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 4, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 4, 2023
Wikipedia, Afghanistan. Accessed on July 4, 2023
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on July 4, 2023
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Afghanistan. Accessed on July 4, 2023
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on July 4, 2023