That dollar amount results from a 13.6% increase from 5 years earlier in 2020 when Burundi’s overall exports were worth $162.3 million.
Year over year, overall sales for Burundian exported goods fell by -15.2% compared to $217.5 million starting from 2023.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2024, Burundi’s legal currency is the Burundian franc which depreciated by -33.7% against the US dollar since 2020 and weakened by -13.6% from 2023 to 2024. Its weaker local currency in 2024 made Burundian exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively lesser expensive for international buyers.
Burundi’s Major Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 84.5% of products exported from Burundi was bought by importers in: Democratic Republic Congo (26.7% of the Burundian total), United Arab Emirates (26.4%), mainland China (5.2%), Switzerland (5.2%), Sudan (4.5%), Tanzania (3.9%), Belgium (3.3%), Oman (2.5%), Somalia (2.3%), Zambia (2.2%), Canada (1.25%) and Pakistan (1.2%).
From a continental perspective, 47.7% of Burundi’s exports by value was delivered to fellow African countries while 38.3% was sold to importers in Asia. Burundi shipped another 11.4% worth of goods to buyers in Europe.
Tinier percentages went to customers in North America (2.3%) and Oceania (0.3%) specifically New Zealand, Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Given Burundi’s population of 13.4 million people, its total US$184.4 million in 2024 exports translates to roughly $15 for every resident in the central eastern African country. That dollar metric parallels the average $7 per capita one year earlier during 2023.
Burundi’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Burundian global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Burundi.
- Coffee, tea, spices: US$40.9 million (22.2% of total exports)
- Gems, precious metals: $32.3 million (17.5%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $20.3 million (11.0%)
- Milling products, malt, starches: $14.7 million (8.0%)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $12.8 million (6.9%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $12.7 million (6.9%)
- Vehicles: $7.2 million (3.9%)
- Iron, steel: $6.4 million (3.5%)
- Glass: $4.5 million (2.5%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $4.2 million (2.3%)
Burundi’s top 10 export product categories accounted for 84.6% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Ores, slag, ash: was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 401.6% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for improving export sales were vehicles via a 101.2% advance.
Burundi’s shipments of milling products, malt and starches posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 47.5%.
The leading decliner among Burundi’s top 10 export categories were gems and precious metals, recording a -56.9% year-over-year drop.
The above listed product categories are at the two-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level.
Drilling down to the more granular four-digit HTS codes, unwrought gold achieved status as Burundi’s most valuable exported product at 17.5% of the African country’s total for 2024. In second place was coffee (14.4%) trailed by tea including flavored versions (7.8%), niobium or zirconium ores and concentrates (7.2%), cigarettes and cigars (6.8%), wheat or meslin flour (6.3%), malt beer (5.5%), tin ores and concentrates (3.6%), glass bottles, flasks, jars and other containers (2.5%), then processed petroleum oils (2.3%).
Products Generating Burundi’s Best Trade Surpluses
The following types of Burundian 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 is 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.
The product categories below generated the greatest surplus amounts for Burundi.
- Gems, precious metals: US$32.3 million (Down by -56.9% since 2023)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $27.5 million (Down by -53.7%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $16.3 million (Up by 308.5%)
- Fruits, nuts: $2.8 million (Up by 237.9%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $1.9 million (Down by -44.6%)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $548,000 (Up by 783.9%)
- Lead: $78,000 (Reversing a -$1,000 trade deficit)
- Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $30,000 (Up by 42.9%)
- Woodpulp: $6,000 (Reversing a -$15,000 trade deficit)
- Zinc: $6,000 (Up by 200%)
Burundi has highly positive net exports in the international trade of gold. In turn, positive cashflows indicate Burundi’s strong competitive advantages under the gems and precious metals product category.
Products Causing Burundi’s Worst Trade Deficits
Burundi incurred an overall -US$1.1 billion trade deficit for 2024, expanding by 12.3% from -$964.8 million in red ink one year earlier in 2023.
Below are exports from Burundi that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Burundi’s goods trail Burundian importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$273.8 million (Up by 5.5% since 2023)
- Vehicles: -$93.5 million (Up by 15.5%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$67.9 million (Up by 2.6%)
- Machinery including computers: -$65.4 million (Down by -0.1%)
- Fertilizers: -$63.4 million (Down by -35.7%)
- Cereals: -$53.7 million (Up by 15.2%)
- Iron, steel: -$44.9 million (Down by -1%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$44.6 million (Up by 6.8%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$39.9 million (Up by 29.3%)
- Sugar, sugar confectionery: -$39.2 million (Up by 112.1%)
Burundi has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade under the mineral fuels including oil product category.
Burundian Export Companies
Not one Burundian corporation ranks among the Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia lists businesses from Burundi that participate in international trade transactions. Selected examples are shown below.
- Air Burundi (airliner)
- Brarudi (brewery)
- FinBank Burundi (commercial bank)
- Interbank Burundi (commercial bank)
- KCB Bank Burundi Limited (commercial bank)
In macroeconomic terms, Burundi’s total exported goods represent an estimated 1.4% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($12.6 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 1.4% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 compares to 0.7% for 2023. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Burundi’s total economic performance, albeit based on a relatively short timeframe.
One lagging indicator for economic health is a country’s jobless rate. Burundi’s unemployment rate averaged 0.9% for 2024, same as an average 0.9% during 2023 according to Trading Economics’ metrics.
Burundi’s capital city is Bujumbura.
See also Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Top 10 Exports, Uganda’s Top 10 Exports, Somalia’s Top 10 Exports and Top African Export Countries
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on December 27, 2025
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on December 27, 2025
International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (Domestic Currency per U.S. dollar, period average). Accessed on December 27, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Databases (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on December 27, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on December 27, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on December 27, 2025
Wikipedia, Burundi. Accessed on December 27, 2025
Wikipedia, Flag of Burundi. Accessed on December 27, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Burundi. Accessed on December 27, 2025