Exported goods from Eritrea were worth a total US$724.9 million in 2024.

That calculated dollar amount results from a 12% decrease from $647.5 million recorded 5 years earlier for 2020.

Year over year, overall Eritrean exports accelerated by 26.9% compared to $419.4 million starting from 2023.

Eritrea is a tiny country located in East Africa, bordered by Sudan to its west, Ethiopia to its south and southwest and Djibouti to its southeast. Northeastern and eastern Eritrea shares a coastline with the Red Sea.

Eritrea’s top 3 most valuable export products are zinc ores or concentrates, copper ores or concentrates and unwrought gold. Combined, those product categories represent 94.7% of overall exports from Eritrea by value. Such a high percentage indicates an intensely concentrated portfolio of products for Eritrea’s international shipments.

Given Eritrea’s population of 3.8 million people, its total US$724.9 million in 2024 exports translates to roughly $190 for every resident in the East African country. That dollar metric outpaces the average $120 per capita one year earlier during 2023.

Eritrea’s Top 10 Exports

The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Eritrean global shipments during 2024, 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 Eritrea.

1. Ores, slag, ash: US$541.6 million (74.7% of total exports)
2. Gems, precious metals: $158.2 million (21.8%)
3. Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $10.7 million (1.5%)
4. Pharmaceuticals: $6.1 million (0.84%)
5. Gums, resins, other vegetable saps: $3.6 million (0.5%)
6. Machinery including computers: $2 million (0.3%)
7. Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $675,000 (0.09%)
8. Electrical machinery, equipment: $345,000 (0.05%)
9. Live animals: $190,000 (0.03%)
10. Plastics, plastic articles: $181,000 (0.02%)

By value, Eritrea’s top 10 export product categories accounted for 99.8% of the overall value of its global shipments.

Pharmaceuticals represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 6,056% from 2023 to 2024.

In second place for Eritrea’s improving export sales were machinery including computers via a 195.6% advance.

Eritrean exports of electrical machinery and equipment posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 33.7% compared to 2023.

The decliners among the top 10 Eritrean export categories were beverages, spirits and vinegar (down -57.1% from 2023) and plastics both as materials and items made from plastic (down -33%).

At the more detailed 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, the major exports from Eritrea are zinc ores or concentrates (38.2% of Eritrea’s global total), copper ores or concentrates (34.6%), unwrought gold (21.8%), precious metal ores and concentrates (1.8%), blood fractions including antisera (0.8%) then unknitted and non-crocheted women’s clothing (0.7%).

Products Driving Eritrea’s Best Trade Surpluses

Eritrea incurred an estimated US$246 million trade surplus in 2024, expanding by 90.2% from $129.4 million in black ink one year earlier in 2023.

The following types of Eritrean 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. Ores, slag, ash: US$541.3 million (Up by 29.1% since 2023)
2. Gems, precious metals: $154.8 million (Up by 16%)
3. Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $9 million (Up by 1.9%)
4. Gums, resins, other vegetable saps: $3.4 million (Reversing a -$256,000 deficit)
5. Collector items, art, antiques: $17,000 (2023 data unavailable)
6. Nickel: $7,000 (Down by -131.8%)
7. Fish: $4,000 (Down by -98.3%)

Historically, Eritrea has highly positive net exports in the international trade of copper and zinc ores and concentrates. In turn, these cashflows indicate Eritrea’s strong competitive advantages under the ores, slag and ash product category.

Products Causing Eritrea’s Worst Trade Deficits

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

1. Machinery including computers: -US$89.9 million (Up by 8.6%)
2. Electrical machinery, equipment: -$39.2 million (Up by 76%)
3. Cereals: -$36 million (Up by 26.7%)
4. Milling products, malt, starches: -$25.6 million (Down by -3.8%)
5. Articles of iron or steel: -$24 million (Up by 47.4%)
6. Miscellaneous food preparations: -$23.8 million (Up by 18.3%)
7. Vehicles: -$19.1 million (Down by -57.8%)
8. Sugar, sugar confectionery: -$18.1 million (Up by 17.8%)
9. Rubber, rubber articles: -$15.7 million (Up by 42.7%)
10. Ceramic products: -$13.3 million (Up by 20.3%)

Eritrea has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the product category titled machinery including computers.

Eritrean Export Companies

Not one Eritrean corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.

Wikipedia does list exporters from Eritrea. Selected examples are shown below.

• Asmara Brewery (lager/stout beer)
• Golden Star Brewery (beer)
• Nakfa Corporation (corrugated boxes, sodium silicate)
• Red Sea Trading Corporation (international trade services)

 
One key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Eritrea’s unemployment rate averaged 5.6% for 2024, down from an average 5.9% in 2023 according to Trading Economics metrics.

Eritrea’s capital city is Asmara.

See also Eritrea’s Top 10 Imports, Top African Export Countries, Nigeria’s Top 10 Exports and Finding the Best International Trade Stocks

Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on January 1, 2026

Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on January 1, 2026

International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on January 1, 2026

International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on January 1, 2026

Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on January 1, 2026

Wikipedia, List of Companies of Eritrea. Accessed on January 1, 2026