That calculated dollar amount results from a 69.4% acceleration from $64.9 billion five years earlier in 2020.
Year over year, the total value of Iraqi exports shrank by -4.2% compared to $114.7 billion during 2023.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2024, Iraq uses the Iraqi dinar which depreciated by -8.7% against the US dollar since 2020 but rose by 3.5% from 2023 to 2024. The weaker local Iraqi currency compared to 2020 made Iraq’s exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively lesser expensive for international buyers starting from American currency.
Geographically, Iraq is surrounded by Iran to its east, Kuwait to its southeast, Saudi Arabia to its south, Jordan to its southwest, and Syria to its west.
Given Iraq’s population of 44.4 million people, its total $109.8 billion in 2024 exports translates to roughly $2,475 for every resident in the West Asian country. That dollar metric lags the average $2,500 per capita one year earlier in 2023.
Iraq’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Iraqi global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Iraq.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$109.2 billion (99.4% of total exports)
- Fruits, nuts: $99.2 million (0.1%)
- Ships, boats: $92.2 million (0.1%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $69.5 million (0.06%)
- Woodpulp: $66.9 million (0.06%)
- Aluminum: $52.4 million (0.05%)
- Copper: $32.9 million (0.03%)
- Machinery including computers: $30.2 million (0.03%)
- Other chemical goods: $15.9 million (0.01%)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $14.4 million (0.01%)
Iraq’s top 10 exports accounted for 99.8% of the overall value of its global shipments and is highly concentrated in mineral-fuels related products.
Woodpulp was the lone growth product among the top 10 export categories, up by 34.5% from 2023 to 2024.
The leading decliner among Iraq’s top 10 export categories was aluminum, thanks to a -55.4% year-over-year drop.
Other leading losers were Iraqi copper (down -40.7% from 2023), animal or vegetable fats, oils and waxes (down -37.7%), machinery including computers (down -29.8%) then fruits and nuts (down -20.9%).
Drilling down to more granular four-digit HTS codes, Iraq’s most valuable exported products were crude oil (89.6% of total Iraqi exports), processed petroleum oils (8.3%), petroleum oil residues (0.7%), petroleum gases (0.6%) and high-temperature distilled coal tar oils (0.2%).
Collectively, those major products at the more detailed level generated 99.4% of overall Iraqi exports sold in 2024.
Products Generating Greatest Trade Surpluses for Iraq
Iraq recorded an estimated US$57.1 billion trade surplus for 2024, expanding by 92.7% from $29.6 billion in black ink one year earlier in 2023.
The following types of Iraqi 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.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$108.3 billion (Up by 7.7% since 2023)
- Woodpulp: $58.2 million (Up by 60.7%)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $13.8 million (Down by -12.2%)
- Ships, boats: $12.9 million (Reversing a -$36.2 million deficit)
- Collector items, art, antiques: $4.3 million (Down by -11%)
- Lead: $3.5 million (Down by -77.7%)
- Vegetable plaiting materials: $238,000 (Reversing a -$1.4 million deficit)
Iraq has highly positive net exports in the international trade of mineral fuels-related goods. In turn, these cashflows indicate Iraq’s strong competitive advantages under the mineral fuels including oil product category.
Products Causing Worst Trade Deficits for Iraq
Below are exports from Iraq that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Iraq’s goods trail Iraqi importer spending on foreign products.
- Machinery including computers: -US$6.4 billion (Down by -20.1% since 2023)
- Vehicles: -$5.1 billion (Down by -28.1%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$4.2 billion (Down by -54.4%)
- Cereals: -$2.2 billion (Up by 0.05%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$2.1 billion (Down by -31.1%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$1.8 billion (Down by -39.6%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$1.6 billion (Up by 2.1%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefab buildings: -$1.5 billion (Down by -0.1%)
- Meat: -$1.4 billion (Up by 16%)
- Cereal/milk preparations: -$1.2 billion (Down by -15.9%)
Iraq has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits machinery including computers as well as other electrical machinery and equipment.
These cashflow deficiencies clearly indicate Iraq’s competitive disadvantages in the international machinery market, but also represent key opportunities for Iraq to improve its position in the global economy through focused innovations.
Iraqi Export Companies
Not one Iraqi corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia does list major companies from Iraq, some of which are active participants in international trade. Selected examples are shown below.
- Iraq National Oil Company (crude oil, natural gas)
- Iraqi Airways Company (domestic/regional airliner)
- Iraqi Oil Tankers Company (maritime transport of petroleum)
- Trade Bank of Iraq (trade deal financing)
In macroeconomic terms, Iraq’s total exported goods represent a projected 16.1% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($683.3 trillion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 16.1% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 compares to 21.2% for 2023. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Iraq’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Iraq’s unemployment rate averaged 15.5% for 2024, up from an average 15.5% one year earlier in 2023 according to Trading Economics metrics.
Nicknamed the City of Peace, Baghdad is the capital city for the Republic of Iraq.
See also UAE’s Top 10 Exports, Palestine’s Top 10 Exports, Egypt’s Top 10 Exports and Syria’s Top 10 Exports
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles, Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed on September 29, 2025
EXCHANGE-RATES.org, Iraqi Dinar (IQD) To US Dollar (USD) Exchange Rate History. Accessed on September 29, 2025
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on September 29, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on September 29, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on September 29, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on September 29, 2025
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on September 29, 2025
Wikipedia, Iraq. Accessed on September 29, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Iraq. Accessed on September 29, 2025
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on September 29, 2025
Zepol’s company summary highlights by country. Accessed on September 29, 2025