That dollar amount reflects a 37% increase from $3.26 billion in 2019.
Year over year, overall sales of Burkina Faso’s exported goods slowed by -1.7% compared to $4.55 billion during 2022.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2022, Burkina Faso’s legal currency is the West African CFA franc which depreciated by -3.5% against the US dollar since 2019 but appreciated by 2.8% from 2022 to 2023. Burkina Faso’s weaker local currency compared to 2019 makes its exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers.
Burkina Faso’s biggest 3 exports by value are the product subcategories unwrought gold, uncarded and uncombed cotton, then oil seeds. Collectively, those items accounted for 87.4% of the overall revenues from all of the country’s exports in 2023. Such a high percentage illustrates Burkina Faso’s intensely concentrated portfolio of exported goods.
Major Trading Partners of Burkina Faso
The latest available country-specific data shows that 94.9% of products exported from Burkina Faso was bought by importers in: Switzerland (67.4% of the country’s total), United Arab Emirates (8.5%), Mali (6%), Ivory Coast (3%), India (1.9%), Singapore (1.8%), Ghana (also 1.8%), Togo (1.5%), Denmark (0.8%), France (also 0.8%), United States of America (0.7%) and Senegal (0.6%).
From a continental perspective, 71% of Burkina Faso’s exports by value was delivered to European countries while 15% was sold to importers in fellow African nations. Burkina Faso shipped another 13.2% worth of goods to buyers in Asia.
Tinier percentages went to customers in North America (0.7%), Latin America (0.05%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania’s Australia (0.03%).
Given Burkina Faso’s population of 23.4 million people, its total $4.47 billion in 2023 exports translates to roughly $190 for every resident in the northwest African country. That dollar metric falls below the average $200 per capita one year earlier in 2022.
Burkina Faso’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Burkinabe global shipments during 2023, 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 Burkina Faso.
- Gems, precious metals: US$3.5 billion (78.7% of total exports)
- Cotton: $259.8 million (5.8%)
- Oil seeds: $151.5 million (3.4%)
- Fruits, nuts: $148.1 million (3.3%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $107.8 million (2.4%)
- Machinery including computers: $58.6 million (1.3%)
- Vehicles: $36.1 million (0.8%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $28.5 million (0.6%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $25.9 million (0.6%)
- Iron, steel: $20 million (0.4%)
Burkina Faso’s top 10 export product categories generated 97.4% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Vehicles represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 72.4% from 2022 to 2023.
In second place for improving export sales was machinery including computers, propelled by a 43.6% advance.
Burkina Faso’s shipments of salt, sulphur, stone and cement posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 29.3%.
The leading decliner among Burkina Faso’s top 10 export categories were the metals iron and steel, recording a -48% year-over-year drop.
Drilling down to 4-digit HTS codes, Burkina Faso’s most valuable exported goods include unwrought gold (78.6% of the country’s global total). In second place was uncarded and uncombed cotton (5.7%), oil seeds (3.1%), cashew nuts and coconuts (2.7%), hydraulic cements (2.4%), dates, pineapples, mangoes, avocadoes and guavas (0.6%), fixed vegetable fats and oils (0.6%), processed petroleum oils (0.6%), heavy machinery such as bulldozers and excavators (also 0.6%), then trucks (0.5%).
Products Generating Burkina Faso’s Best Trade Surpluses
The following types of Burkinabe 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$3.5 billion (Up by 4.2% since 2022)
- Cotton: $252.4 million (Down by -45.3%)
- Fruits, nuts: $144.1 million (Down by -18.3%)
- Oil seeds: $142.2 million (Up by 16.1%)
- Food industry waste, animal fodder: $12.7 million (Up by 55.8%)
- Live animals: $5.7 million (Up by 1081.6%)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $1.7 million (Up by 137.2%)
- Lead: $1.1 million (Reversing a -$66,000 trade deficit)
- Collector items, art, antiques: $133,000 (Up by 303.0%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $129,000 (Down by -99.8%)
Burkina Faso has highly positive net exports in the international trade of gold. In turn, these cashflows indicate Burkina Faso’s strong competitive advantages under the gems and precious metals category.
Products Causing Burkina Faso’s Worst Trade Deficits
Burkina Faso recorded an overall -US$1.43 billion trade deficit for 2023, expanding by 32% from -$1.08 billion one year earlier in 2022.
Below are exports from Burkina Faso that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Burkina Faso’s goods trail Burkinabe importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$2.3 billion (Up by 12% since 2022)
- Machinery including computers: -$346 million (Up by 0.03%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$337.6 million (Up by 16.8%)
- Vehicles: -$266.4 million (Down by -3%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$248.3 million (Down by -18.3%)
- Cereals: -$225.2 million (Down by -3.8%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$194.9 million (Up by 5.6%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: -$143.2 million (Up by 14.7%)
- Iron, steel: -$123.3 million (Down by -34.2%)
- Fertilizers: -$117.5 million (Up by 47%)
Burkina Faso has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits related to the mineral fuels including oil category. That category was weighed down by red ink for refined petroleum oils, electricity, petroleum gas and petroleum coke.
Burkinabe Export Companies
Not one Burkinabe corporation ranks on the Forbes Global 2000 list.
Wikipedia lists companies located in Burkina Faso. Selected examples are shown below.
- Air Burkina (airliner)
- Faso Airways (airliner)
- Tovio (sportswear, equipment)
In macroeconomic terms, Burkina Faso’s total exported goods represent 7% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2023 ($63.5 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 7% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2023 compares to 7.8% for 2022. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Burkina Faso’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
An key indicator of economic performance is the country’s unemployment rate. Burkina Faso’s unemployment rate averaged 5% for 2023, lower than its 5.1% jobless rate for 2022 according to Trading Economics metrics.
Burkina Faso’s capital city is Ouagadougou.
See also OPEC Countries Crude Oil Exports Sales Data, Report Card for Trade Surpluses and Deficits by Country and Top Cork Exporting Countries
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Africa: Burkina Faso. Accessed on November 21, 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on November 21, 2024
International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (Domestic Currency per U.S. dollar, period average). Accessed on November 21, 2024
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on November 21, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on November 21, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on November 21, 2024
Wikipedia, Burkina Faso. Accessed on November 21, 2024
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on November 21, 2024
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Burkina Faso. Accessed on November 21, 2024
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on November 21, 2024