A landlocked Central African nation, the Republic of Chad shipped US$2.224 billion worth of products around the globe in 2021. That estimated dollar amount reflects a 66% increase from $1.34 billion in 2017.

Year over year, the overall value of goods exported from Chad accelerated by 30.4% compared to $1.71 billion during 2020.

Chad’s top 3 most valuable exported products by value are crude oil, oil seeds, then natural gums or resins or balsams. Collectively, that trio of exports represent 99.1% of exports sold by Chad in 2021. Such a high percentage reflects Chad’s extremely concentrated portfolio of exported goods.

Chad’s Major Trading Partners

The latest available country-specific data shows that 99.6% of products exported from Chad were bought by importers in: Germany (47.8% of the global total), Taiwan (20.9%), France (9%), mainland China (8.8%), Netherlands (6.8%), Turkey (4.9%), Saudi Arabia (0.7%), United States of America (0.19%), India (0.15%), Egypt (0.13%), Pakistan (0.1%), and Indonesia (0.1%).

From a continental perspective, 57.2% of Chad’s exports by value were delivered to Asian countries while 42.1% were sold to importers in Europe.

Chad shipped another 0.4% worth of goods to fellow African countries. Even tinier percentages went to North America (0.3%), Oceania’s Australia and New Zealand (0.02%), and Latin America (0.009%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.

Given Chad’s population of 16.9 million people, its total $2.224 billion in 2021 exports translates to roughly $130 for every resident in the Central African country. That dollar metric outpaces the average $90 per capita one year earlier during 2020.

Chad’s Top 10 Exports

The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Chadian global shipments during 2021 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 Chad.

1. Mineral fuels including oil: US$2.1 billion (92.4% of total exports)
2. Oil seeds: $131.1 million (5.9%)
3. Gums, resins, other vegetable saps: $20.4 million (0.9%)
4. Cotton: $6.9 million (0.3%)
5. Gems, precious metals: $5.5 million (0.2%)
6. Machinery including computers: $3 million (0.1%)
7. Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $510,000 (0.02%)
8. Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $444,000 (0.02%)
9. Electrical machinery, equipment: $438,000 (0.02%)
10. Inorganic chemicals: $176,000 (0.01%)

Chad’s top 10 exports accounted for 99.9% of the overall value of its global shipments.

Inorganic chemicals represents the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 877.8% from 2020 to 2021.

In second place for improving export sales was machinery including computers, via a 195.7% advance.

Chad’s shipments of raw hides, skins not furskins, and leather posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 85%.

The leading decliner among Chad’s top 10 export categories was gems and precious metals thanks to a -97.4% drop. That year-over-year reduction was propelled by stronger revenues from coins including legal tender.

Drilling down to 4-digit HTS codes, Chad’s most valuable exported goods in 2021 were crude oil (92.3% of its overall total), oil seeds (5.8%), natural gums, resins and balsams (0.9%), uncarded cotton (0.3%), coins (0.2%), and unroasted ground-nuts (0.1%).

Products Behind Chad’s Biggest Trade Surpluses

Chad generated an estimated $1.4 billion product trade surplus for 2021, expanding by 102.3% from $677 million in black ink one year earlier.

The following types of Chadian 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.

1. Mineral fuels including oil: US$2 billion (Up by 50.7% since 2020)
2. Oil seeds: $130.6 million (Up by 76.9%)
3. Gums, resins, other vegetable saps: $20.3 million (Up by 12.5%)
4. Cotton: $5 million (Up by 652.4%)
5. Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $443,000 (Up by 170.1%)
6. Collector items, art, antiques: $23,000 (Up by 283.3%)
7. Wool: $22,000 (Reversing a -$5,000 deficit)

Chad has highly positive net exports principally in the international trade of crude petroleum oil. In turn, these cashflows indicate Chad’s competitive advantages under the mineral fuels-related product category.

Products Causing Chad’s Worst Trade Deficits

Below are exports from Chad that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Chad’s goods trail Chadian importer spending on foreign products.

1. Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): -US$98.6 million (Up by 912.4% since 2020)
2. Electrical machinery, equipment: -$93.4 million (Down by -18%)
3. Machinery including computers: -$72.1 million (Down by -61.5%)
4. Pharmaceuticals: -$69.2 million (Down by -17.6%)
5. Vehicles: -$56.1 million (Down by -45.4%)
6. Iron, steel: -$40.4 million (Up by 83.8%)
7. Articles of iron or steel: -$31.7 million (Up by 18.8%)
8. Plastics, plastic articles: -$29.8 million (Down by -20.8%)
9. Knit or crochet fabric: -$28.2 million (Up by 2391.6%)
10. Cereal/milk preparations: -$26.1 million (Down by -21.6%)

Chad has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the unknitted and non-crocheted clothing or accessories, as well as the the electrical machinery and equipment product category.

Chadian Export Companies

Not one Chadian corporation ranks among the Forbes Global 2000 listing.

Wikipedia also lists companies from Chad that participate in international trade transactions. Selected examples are shown below.

• Commercial Bank Chad (bank)
• Cotontchad (cotton)
• Mid Express Tchad (cargo airliner)

 
In macroeconomic terms, Chad’s total exported goods represent an estimated 8.2% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2021 ($27 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 8.2% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2021 compares to roughly 5.5% for 2020. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Chad’s total economic performance, albeit based on relatively short timeframe.

Chad’s capital city is N’Djamena.

See also Germany’s Top Trading Partners, Uganda’s Top 10 Exports, Somalia’s Top 10 Exports and Top African Export Countries

Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Africa: Chad. Accessed on September 20, 2022

FlagPictures.org, Flag of Chad. Accessed on September 20, 2022

Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on September 20, 2022

International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Databases (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on September 20, 2022

International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on September 20, 2022

Investopedia, Net Exports Defintion. Accessed on September 20, 2022

Wikipedia, Chad. Accessed on September 20, 2022

Wikipedia, List of Companies of Chad. Accessed on September 20, 2022

World’s Capital Cities, Capital Facts for N’Djamena, Chad. Accessed on September 20, 2022