That dollar amount results from a 4.7% increase in 2018 when Burundi’s overall exports were worth $180.3 million.
Year over year, overall sales for Burundian exported goods accelerated by 66.9% compared to $113.2 million during 2021.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2022, Burundi’s legal currency is the Burundian franc which depreciated by -14.1% against the US dollar since 2018 and weakened by -3% from 2021 to 2022. Its weaker local currency in 2022 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 88.3% of products exported from Burundi was bought by importers in: United Arab Emirates (28.3% of the Burundian total), Democratic Republic of the Congo (19.8%), Belgium (7.9%), Pakistan (6.3%), Switzerland (5.4%), Tanzania (5.1%), Sudan (4.6%), Egypt (3.2%), United Kingdom (2.5%), Oman (2%), Germany (1.9%) and Ethiopia (1.4%).
From a continental perspective, 40.1% of Burundi’s exports by value was delivered to fellow African countries while 19.3% was sold to importers in Europe. Burundi shipped another 38.8% worth of goods to Asia.
Tinier percentages went to buyers in North America (1.3%), Oceania’s New Zealand and Australia (0.5%), then Latin America’s Belize, Haiti and the British Virgin Islands (0.01%).
Given Burundi’s population of 12.6 million people, its total $188.9 million in 2022 exports translates to roughly $15 for every resident in the central eastern African country. That dollar metric exceeds the average $10 per capita one year earlier during 2021.
Burundi’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Burundian global shipments during 2022. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Burundi.
- Coffee, tea, spices: US$67.6 million (35.8% of total exports)
- Gems, precious metals: $51.8 million (27.4%)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $9.9 million (5.3%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $9.7 million (5.1%)
- Milling products, malt, starches: $9.1 million (4.8%)
- Iron, steel: $8.7 million (4.6%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $5.7 million (3%)
- Glass: $4.6 million (2.4%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $4.4 million (2.3%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $3.4 million (1.8%)
Burundi’s top 10 exports accounted for 92.6% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Gems and precious metals was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 470,373% from 2021 to 2022. That product category was propelled by stronger international revenues from gold exports from Burundi.
In second place for improving Burundian export sales was the mineral fuels including oil product category via a 120.8% advance, led by refined petroleum oils.
Burundi’s shipments of milling products, malt and starches posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 82.7%.
The lone decliner among Burundi’s top 10 export categories was ores, slag and ash, pulled down by a -78.1% 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 27.4% of the African country’s total for 2022. In second place was coffee (22.5%) trailed by tea including flavored versions (13.3%), cigarettes and cigar (5.1%), malt beer (5.7%), wheat or meslin flour (4.8%), processed petroleum oils (3%), plated or coated products made from flat-rolled or non-alloy steel (2.4%), glass containers including bottles and jars (also 2.4%), then plastic packing items including lids and caps (2.3%).
The top 10 exports at the more detailed level account for 88.3% of overall Burundian international sales.
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.
- Coffee, tea, spices: US$66.2 million (Up by 29.4% since 2021)
- Gems, precious metals: $51.2 million (Reversing a -$110,000 deficit)
- Ores, slag, ash: $3.4 million (Down by -78%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $1.1 million (Down by -54.9%)
- Food industry waste, animal fodder: $677,000 (Reversing a -$20,000 deficit)
- Fruits, nuts: $389,000 (Up by 2331.3%)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $233,000 (Up by 191.3%)
- Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $14,000 (Down by -72.5%)
- Woodpulp: $1,000 (Reversing a -$20,000 deficit)
Burundi has highly positive net exports in the international trade of coffee and, to a lesser extent, tea. In turn, these cashflows indicate Burundi’s strong competitive advantages under the coffee, tea and spices product category.
Products Causing Burundi’s Worst Trade Deficits
Burundi incurred an overall -US$1 billion trade deficit for 2022, expanding by 16.9% from -$867.9 million in red ink one year earlier in 2021.
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$281.1 million (Up by 59.5% since 2021)
- Vehicles: -$77.7 million (Up by 34.1%)
- Fertilizers: -$76 million (Up by 292.6%)
- Iron, steel: -$70 million (Down by -16.3%)
- Machinery including computers: -$66.6 million (Up by 12.1%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$57.5 million (Down by -17.5%)
- Cereals: -$51.7 million (Up by 20.7%)
- Miscellaneous textiles, worn clothing: -$44.9 million (Up by 53.7%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$44.4 million (Down by -3.3%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: -$39.3 million (Down by -19%)
Burundi has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits particularly for refined petroleum oils under the mineral fuels-related 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 1.8% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2022 ($10.8 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 1.8% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2022 compares to 1.2% for 2021. 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 1% for 2022, down from an average 1.1% during 2021.
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 June 24, 2023
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on June 24, 2023
International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (Domestic Currency per U.S. dollar, period average). Accessed on June 24, 2023
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Databases (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on June 24, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on June 24, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on June 24, 2023
Wikipedia, Burundi. Accessed on June 24, 2023
Wikipedia, Flag of Burundi. Accessed on June 24, 2023
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Burundi. Accessed on June 24, 2023
World’s Capital Cities, Capital Facts for Bujumbura, Burundi. Accessed on June 24, 2023