That dollar amount results from a 27% increase from $6.63 billion 5 years earlier in 2020.
Year over year, the overall value of North Macedonian exported goods fell by -6.4% compared to $8.99 billion starting from 2023.
Resolving a dispute with Greece over its name, “Macedonia” was renamed as the Republic of North Macedonia effective February 1, 2020.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2024, the Macedonian denar depreciated by -4.8% against the US dollar since 2020 but appreciated by 0.1% from 2023 to 2024. North Macedonia’s weaker local currency compared to 2020 makes its exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers starting with American currency.
North Macedonia’s Major Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 79.8% of products exported from North Macedonia was bought by importers in: Germany (39.8% of the Macedonian total), Serbia (10.5%), Bulgaria (5.6%), Hungary (3.7%), Czech Republic (3.6%), Greece (3.4%), Italy (2.64%), Slovakia (2.59%), Romania (2.11%), Spain (2.09%), Türkiye (2%) and Belgium (1.8%).
From a continental perspective, 94.5% of North Macedonia’s exports by value was delivered to fellow European countries while 3.4% was sold to importers in Asia. North Macedonia shipped another 1.7% worth of goods to customers located in North America.
Tinier percentages went to Africa (0.21%), Latin America (0.15%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, and Oceania (0.11%) mostly Australia.
Given North Macedonia’s population of 1.82 million people, its total $8.42 billion in 2024 exports translates to roughly $4,650 for every resident in the southeastern European nation. That dollar metric lags the average $4,900 per capita one year earlier during 2023.
North Macedonia’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in North Macedonian global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from North Macedonia.
- Other chemical goods: US$2 billion (23.3% of total exports)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $1.7 billion (20.4%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefab buildings: $456.2 million (5.4%)
- Iron, steel: $417.3 million (5%)
- Machinery including computers: $402 million (4.8%)
- Vehicles: $346.5 million (4.1%)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $308.4 million (3.7%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $291.5 million (3.5%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $215.9 million (2.6%)
- Articles of iron or steel: $212.1 million (2.5%)
North Macedonia’s top 10 export product categories accounted for three-quarters (75.2%) of the overall value of its global shipments.
Machinery including computers represents the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 24.2% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for improving export sales was electrical machinery and equipment via a 14.6% advance.
North Macedonia’s shipments of furniture, bedding, lighting, signs and prefab buildings posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 2.4%.
The leading decliner among North Macedonia’s top 10 export categories were vehicles, pulled down by a -35% year-over-year drop.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, North Macedonia’s most valuable export goods are initiators, accelerators and other catalytic devices (23.2% of North Macedonia’s total), insulated wire and cable (9.7%), seats excluding barber and dentist chairs (4.1%), electrical or optical circuit boards or panels (3.4%), centrifuges, filters and purifiers (2.7%), hot-rolled iron or non-alloy steel products (2.5%), automobile parts or accessories (2.4%), electrical energy (also 2.4%), medication mixes in dosage (2.3%), then electric storage batteries (1.8%).
Products Driving North Macedonia’s Best Trade Surpluses
The following types of North Macedonian 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.
- Other chemical goods: US$1.8 billion (Down by -25% since 2023)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefab buildings: $309.9 million (Up by 4.8%)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $220.9 million (Down by -17.8%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $215.7 million (Up by 9.6%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $159.9 million (Up by 1659.1%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $104.7 million (Up by 10.7%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $56 million (Up by 5.5%)
- Vegetables: $55.7 million (Down by -18.4%)
- Vegetable/fruit/nut preparations: $41.9 million (Up by 15.6%)
- Copper: $31.4 million (Reversing a -$7.8 million deficit)
North Macedonia has highly positive net exports in the international trade of miscellaneous chemical products. In turn, these cashflows indicate North Macedonia’s strong competitive advantages under the category named other chemical goods.
Products Causing North Macedonia’s Worst Trade Deficits
North Macedonia incurred an overall -US$3.54 billion trade deficit for 2024, expanding by 15.9% from -$3.1 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2023.
Below are exports from North Macedonia that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country North Macedonia’s goods trail North Macedonian importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$1.11 billion (Down by -6.8% since 2023)
- Gems, precious metals: -$1.06 billion (Down by -12.7%)
- Machinery including computers: -$443.6 million (Up by 0.4%)
- Ceramic products: -$425.2 million (Down by -8.8%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$340 million (Up by 14.2%)
- Vehicles: -$316.3 million (Up by 966.4%)
- Inorganic chemicals: -$265.2 million (Down by -29.2%)
- Meat: -$181.1 million (Up by 9.5%)
- Iron, steel: -$141.9 million (Up by 85%)
- Coated/laminated textile fabric: -$133.7 million (Up by 8.6%)
Notably, North Macedonia has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the mineral fuels-related plus the gems and precious metals product categories.
North Macedonian Export Companies
Not one North Macedonian corporation ranks among the companies on the Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia lists export-related businesses from North Macedonia. Selected examples are shown below.
- Aktiva (steel)
- Alkaloid (pharmaceuticals)
- FAS Sanos (commercial vehicles, trucks)
- Makpetrol (oil, gas)
- OKTA (oil, gas)
- ONE.VIP (mobile telecommunications)
- Teteks (textiles, clothing)
- Tutunski kombinat Prilep (tobacco)
In macroeconomic terms, North Macedonia’s total exported goods represent 16.7% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($50.4 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 16.7% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 compares to 19.1% one year earlier. Those percentages indicate a decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for North Macedonia’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of an economy’s health is the unemployment rate. North Macedonia’s unemployment rate averaged 13.01% for 2024, down from an average 13.05% jobless rate in 2023.
North Macedonia’s capital city is Skopje, the birthplace for Mother Teresa.
See also Bulgaria’s Top Trading Partners, United Kingdom’s Top Trading Partners and Greece’s Top 10 Exports
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, Country Profiles, The World Factbook. Accessed on December 10, 2025
EXCHANGE-RATES.org, Exchange Rates: Macedonian dinar per U.S. dollar. Accessed on December 10, 2025
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on December 10, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on December 10, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on December 10, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on December 10, 2025
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on December 10, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of North Macedonia. Accessed on December 10, 2025
Wikipedia, North Macedonia. Accessed on December 10, 2025
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on December 10, 2025