That dollar amount reflects an 33.6% increase compared to $345.2 million five years earlier in 2020.
Year over year, the total value of Barbadian exports flatlined via a 0.05% gain from $461 million for 2023.
Barbados’ Best Trade Customers
The latest available country-specific data shows that 58.3% of products exported from Barbados was bought by importers in: United States of America (17.7% of the Barbadian total), Jamaica (7.4%), Trinidad/Tobago (6.5%), Saint Lucia (4.7%), Guyana (4.3%), Canada (4.29%), St Vincent and Grenadines (2.9%), Antigua/Barbuda (2.5%), Grenada (2.4%), France (2.2%), United Kingdom (1.8%) and St Kitts and Nevis (1.7%).
From a continental perspective, 57.5% of Barbados’ exports by value was delivered to Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean countries while 32.4% was sold to North American importers. Barbados shipped another 7.6% worth of goods to buyers in Europe.
Smaller percentages went to customers in Asia (2.4%), Africa (0.07%) then Oceania’s Australia and New Zealand only (0.06%).
Given Barbados’ population of 291,000 people, the total $461.3 million in 2024 Barbadian exports translates to nearly $1,600 for every person living on the Caribbean island. That dollar metric approximates the average $1,600 per capita one year earlier in 2023.
Barbados’ Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Barbadian global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall Barbadian exports.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$164.1 million (35.6% of total exports)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $61.5 million (13.3%)
- Pharmaceuticals: $30.2 million (6.6%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $17 million (3.7%)
- Cereal/milk preparations: $16.6 million (3.6%)
- Paper, paper items: $15.9 million (3.4%)
- Other chemical goods: $13.1 million (2.8%)
- Gems, precious metals: $12.9 million (2.8%)
- Iron, steel: $12.4 million (2.7%)
- Vehicles: $10.6 million (2.3%)
Barbados’ top 10 exports generated over three-quarters (76.8%) of the overall value of its global shipments.
Vehicles represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 354.1% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for improving export sales were the metals iron and steel via a 26.8% advance.
Barbados’ shipments of miscellaneous chemical goods posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 18.7%.
The leading decliner among Barbados’ top 10 export categories was the gems and precious metals product group, posting a -15.8% year-over-year slowdown.
At the more detailed four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, the most valuable exported products from Barbados are refined petroleum oils (31.5%), alcohol including spirits and liqueurs (11.2%), medication mixes in dosage (6.2%), bread, biscuits, cakes and pastries (3.3%), margarine (3.1%), crude oil (3%), iron or steel scrap (2.6%), packaged insecticides, fungicides and herbicides (also 2.6%), jewelry (2.5%) then paper labels (2.3%).
Products Generating Best Trade Surpluses for Barbados
The following types of Barbadian 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.
- Gems, precious metals: US$11.7 million (Down by -18.3% since 2023)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $7 million (Down by -38.7%)
- Clocks, watches including parts: $4.8 million (Down by -29.8%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $3.1 million (Up by 4.8%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: $2.9 million (Up by 213.8%)
- Live animals: $2.4 million (Up by 57.7%)
- Woodpulp: $11,000 (Up by 83.3%)
Historically, Barbados has generated positive net exports in the international trade of gold and precious metal scrap. In turn, these cashflows indicate Barbados’ strong competitive advantages under the gems and precious metals product category.
Products Causing Worst Trade Deficits for Barbados
Overall, Barbados incurred a -US$1.69 billion product trade deficit for 2024, expanding by 2.1% from the -$1.66 billion in red ink one year earlier for 2023.
Below are exports from Barbados that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Barbados’ goods trail Barbadian importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$311.7 million (Down by -6.8% since 2023)
- Machinery including computers: -$191.7 million (Down by -5.5%)
- Vehicles: -$143.9 million (Up by 13.4%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$127.4 million (Up by 1.3%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$69.4 million (Up by 9.8%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting , signs, prefab buildings: -$56.5 million (Up by 7.8%)
- Miscellaneous food preparations: -$45.5 million (Down by -1.6%)
- Dairy, eggs, honey: -$42.7 million (Up by 1.4%)
- Meat: -$40.1 million (Up by 1.5%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$36.2 million (Up by 8.7%)
Barbados has notably negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for refined petroleum oils, petroleum gases and petroleum coke under the category named mineral fuels including oil.
Barbados’ Export Companies
Wikipedia lists exports-related companies from Barbados. Selected examples are shown below.
- Banks Barbados Brewery (alcoholic beverages)
- Barbados National Oil Company (oil and gas)
- Mount Gay Rum (alcoholic beverages)
- Solar Dynamics (solar heaters)
- West Indies Sugar & Trading Co (sugar)
- WIBISCO (biscuits, other food products)
In macroeconomic terms, Barbados’ total exported goods represent 7.2% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($6.4 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 7.2% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 lags the 8.2% percentage one year earlier. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Barbados’ total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Barbados’ unemployment rate averaged 7.913% for 2024, down from 8.217% one year earlier in 2023 according to International Monetary Fund metrics.
See also America’s Top Trading Partners, Jamaica’s Top 10 Exports, Guyana’s Top 10 Exports Plus Main Trading Partners, Trinidad and Tobago’s Top 10 Exports and Refined Oil Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, Country Profiles, The World Factbook. Accessed on September 2, 2025
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on September 2, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on September 2, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on September 2, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on September 2, 2025
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on September 2, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Barbados. Accessed on September 2, 2025
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on September 2, 2025