An independent constituent country within the Kingdom of Denmark located east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Greenland shipped US$1.56 billion worth of exported products around the world in 2024.

That calculated dollar amount reflects a 14.1% increase from $1.37 billion 5 years earlier in 2020.

Year over year, the overall value of Greenland’s exports slowed by -6.4% compared to $1.67 billion in 2023.

Greenland’s top 6 biggest exported products by value are frozen whole fish, crustaceans including lobsters, preserved or prepared crustaceans and molluscs, fish fillets and pieces, fishing vessels and factory ships, then dried, salted or smoked miscellaneous fish.

Collectively, those 6 leading export categories represent 96.7% of Greenland’s total export revenues. Such a high percentage indicates Greenland intensely concentrated set of exported goods related to seafood.

Greenland’s Most Valuable Trading Partners

The latest available country-specific data (from 2018) shows that 92.3% of products exported from Greenland were bought by importers in: Denmark (85.3% of Greenland’s global total), Latvia (3.7%), Portugal (0.9%), Russia (0.7%), Iceland (0.6%), Faroe Islands (0.4%), Norway (0.3%), Thailand (also 0.3%), Spain (0.1%), United States of America (0.002%), Bahrain (0.001%) and mainland China (0.0005%).

Given Greenland’s population of 56,699 people its total $1.56 billion in 2024 exports translates to roughly $27,600 for every resident living on the island. That dollar metric lags the average $29,500 per capita one year earlier during 2023.

Greenland’s Top 10 Exports

The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Greenlandic 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 Greenland.

1. Fish: US$1.2 billion (78.7% of total exports)
2. Meat/seafood preparations: $238.7 million (15.3%)
3. Ships, boats: $59.8 million (3.8%)
4. Machinery including computers: $8.2 million (0.5%)
5. Electrical machinery, equipment: $4 million (0.3%)
6. Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $3.23 million (0.2%)
7. Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $3.21 million (0.2%)
8. Miscellaneous animal-origin products: $2.9 million (0.2%)
9. Vehicles: $1.8 million (0.12%)
10. Gems, precious metals: $1.6 million (0.11%)

Greenland’s top 10 export product categories accounted for 99.4% of the overall value of its global shipments.

Machinery including computers was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 126.3% from 2023 to 2024.

In second place for improving export sales was the capital-intensive ships and boats category via a 116.2% advance.

Greenland’s shipments of electrical machinery and equipment posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 49.5%.

The leading decliner among Greenland’s top 10 export categories was gems and precious metals, recording a -81.6% year-over-year drop. That category was pulled down by lower revenues from exported unstrung precious or semi-precious stones.

At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, frozen whole fish represent Greenland’s most valuable exported product at 36.4% of its overall total. In second place were crustaceans including lobsters (31.4%) trailed by preserved or prepared crustaceans and molluscs (15.2%), fish fillets and pieces (8.6%), fishing vessels and factory ships (3.8%), dried, salted or smoked miscellaneous fish (1.2%), fresh whole fish (0.7%), feldspar (0.2%), moluscs (0.2%), then phone devices including smartphones (also 0.2%).

Products Generating Greenland’s Best Trade Surpluses

Greenland generated an estimated US$524.7 million product trade surplus in 2024, down -2.8% from $539.7 million in black ink one year earlier for 2023.

The following types of Greenlandic 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. Fish: US$1.2 billion (Down by -7.7% since 2023)
2. Meat/seafood preparations: $222 million (Down by -9.1%)
3. Ships, boats: $47.6 million (Reversing a -$78.3 million deficit)
4. Miscellaneous animal-origin products: $2.8 million (Down by -49.4%)
5. Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $1.7 million (Down by -28%)
6. Gems, precious metals: $555,000 (Down by -93.1%)
7. Collector items, art, antiques: $253,000 (Up by 2200%)
8. Ores, slag, ash: $5,000 (Reversing a -$15,000 deficit)

Greenland has highly positive net exports in the international trade of fish-related categories. In turn, these cashflows indicate Greenland’s strong competitive advantages notably under the fish product category as well as meat or seafood preparations.

Products Causing Greenland’s Worst Trade Deficits

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

1. Mineral fuels including oil: -US$225.9 million (Down by -11% since 2023)
2. Machinery including computers: -$112.1 million (Up by 0.5%)
3. Aircraft, spacecraft: -$52.8 million (Up by 169.5%)
4. Electrical machinery, equipment: -$48.3 million (Down by -12.9%)
5. Vehicles: -$45.9 million (Up by 12.8%)
6. Articles of iron or steel: -$42 million (Down by -22.5%)
7. Beverages, spirits, vinegar: -$33 million (Up by 81.5%)
8. Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefab buildings: -$23.6 million (Down by -15.8%)
9. Meat: -$23.1 million (Down by -2.1%)
10. Cereal/milk preparations: -$22 million (Down by -0.5%)

Historically, Greenland has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for refined petroleum oils under the mineral fuels-related product category.

Greenlandic Export Companies

Not one corporation based in Greenland ranks on the Forbes Global 2000 list.

Wikipedia lists some exports-related companies from Greenland. Selected examples are shown below.

• Great Greenland Furhouse (fur clothing)
• Greenland Brewhouse (beer)
• Nunaoil (oil, gas)
• Royal Greenland (fish)

 

Greenland’s capital city is Nuuk.

See also Denmark’s Top Trading Partners, Latvia’s Top 10 Exports, Portugal’s Top Trading Partners and Iceland’s Top 10 Exports

Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook North America: Greenland. Accessed on September 27, 2025

FlagPictures.org, Flag of Greenland. Accessed on September 27, 2025

Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on September 27, 2025

International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on September 27, 2025

Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on September 27, 2025

Wikipedia, Greenland. Accessed on September 27, 2025

Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on September 27, 2025

Wikipedia, List of Companies of Greenland. Accessed on September 27, 2025

Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on September 27, 2025