That dollar amount results from a 24.6% increase compared to $3.07 billion five years earlier in 2021.
Year over year, Maltese export sales slowed to a 1% gain from $3.78 billion during 2024.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2025, Malta uses the euro which strengthened via a 4.4% gain against the US dollar from 2024 to 2025. The stronger European Union currency made Maltese exports paid for in weaker US dollars more expensive for international buyers starting with American currency.
Malta’s top 5 most valuable exported products are electronic integrated circuits or microassemblies, medication mixes in dosage, unused stamps, processed petroleum oils then lower-voltage switches or fuses. Combined, that quintet of major Maltese exports generated almost three-fifths half (57%) of Malta’s overall product sales on international markets. Such a high percentage suggests a highly concentrated portfolio of exported products.
Malta’s Best Exports Customers
The latest available country-specific data shows that 60.3% of products exported from Malta was bought by importers in: Germany (20.7% of the Maltese total), Italy (6.8%), Japan (4.9%), United States of America (4.7%), Greece (4.3%), United Kingdom (3.7%), Singapore (3.5%), Hong Kong (3.5%), Switzerland (2.12%), Libya (2.04%), France (2%) and Slovenia (1.99%).
From a continental perspective, 56.6% of Malta’s exports by value was delivered to fellow European countries while 23.8% was sold to importers in Asia.
Malta shipped another 9.6% worth of goods to buyers in Africa.
Smaller percentages went to customers in North America (5.8%), Latin America (3.4%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean then Oceania (0.8%) mostly Australia, Fiji and New Zealand.
Malta is a member of the European Union. Fellow EU member states bought almost half of Maltese exports in 2025.
Given Malta’s population of 563,000 people, its total US$3.82 billion in 2025 exports translates to roughly $6,800 for every resident in the small island country. That dollar metric mirrors the average $6,800 per capital one year earlier during 2024.
Malta’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups garnered the highest dollar value in Maltese global shipments during 2025. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Malta.
- Electrical machinery, equipment: US$1.1 billion (28.3% of total exports)
- Pharmaceuticals: $577.3 million (15.1%)
- Books, newspapers, pictures: $391.9 million (10.3%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $332.9 million (8.7%)
- Fish: $217.4 million (5.7%)
- Machinery including computers: $159.4 million (4.2%)
- Organic chemicals: $116.9 million (3.1%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: $112.5 million (2.9%)
- Miscellaneous food preparations: $110.4 million (2.9%)
- Toys, games: $101.7 million (2.7%)
Malta’s top 10 export categories generated 83.8% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Organic chemicals represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 184.8% from 2024 to 2025.
In second place for improving export sales were pharmaceuticals via a 25.8% advance.
Malta’s shipments of books, newspapers and pictures posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 12.4%.
The leading decliner among Malta’s top 10 export categories was the toys and games category, thanks to a -17.8% year-over-year drop.
The above listed product categories are at the four-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level.
Drilling down to the more detailed HTS codes, Malta’s most valuable export products are electronic integrated circuits or microassemblies (20.5% of the Maltese total), medication mixes in dosage (14.9%), unused stamps (9.1%), processed petroleum oils (8.6%), lower-voltage switches or fuses (3.9%), fish fillets and pieces (3.3%), models, puzzles and miscellaneous toys (2.6%), vulcanized rubber (2.1%), miscellaneous food preparations (2%), then ethers (also 2%).
Products Generating Malta’s Largest Trade Surpluses
The following types of Maltese 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.
- Books, newspapers, pictures: US$355.7 million (Up by 11.6% since 2024)
- Fish: $85.3 million (Up by 11.3%)
- Toys, games: $58.3 million (Down by -27.7%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: $52.9 million (Up by 5.5%)
- Miscellaneous food preparations: $29.3 million (Down by -11.9%)
- Knit or crochet fabric: $23 million (Down by -3.8%)
- Woodpulp: $4.5 million (Up by 12.5%)
- Organic chemicals: $2.8 million (Reversing a -$37.9 million deficit)
- Manmade filaments: $1 million (Reversing a -$956,000 deficit)
- Nickel: $308,000 (Reversing a -$1.5 million deficit)
Malta has highly positive net exports in the international trade of printed books, newspapers and pictures. In turn, these cashflows indicate Malta’s strong competitive advantages under the books, newspapers and pictures category.
Products Causing Malta’s Worst Trade Deficits
Malta incurred an overall -US$5.44 billion trade deficit during 2025, reducing by -3.9% from -$5.66 billion in red ink in 2024.
Below are exports from Malta that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Malta’s goods trail Maltese importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$1.5 billion (Down by -10.4% since 2024)
- Ships, boats: -$1.1 billion (Down by -6.2%)
- Vehicles: -$400.6 million (Up by 7.6%)
- Machinery including computers: -$369.7 million (Down by -1.3%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: -$166.2 million (Down by -41.9%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$150 million (Up by 10.5%)
- Meat: -$149 million (Up by 30.4%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefab buildings: -$146 million (Up by 3.1%)
- Paper, paper items: -$140.7 million (Down by -2.2%)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: -$114.2 million (Up by 2.1%)
Historically, Malta has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for refined petroleum oils, electrical energy, and petroleum gases under the mineral fuels-related product category.
Malta’s Export Companies
Given how small Malta is, it should come as no surprise that not one Maltese corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia does list Maltese companies that engage in international trade. Selected examples are shown below:
- Air Malta plc (airliner)
- Emmanuel Delicata (wine)
- Simonds Farsons Cisk plc (beverages including beer)
In macroeconomic terms, Malta’s total exported goods represent 8.8% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2025 ($43.2 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 8.8% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2025 compares to 9.3% for 2024. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Malta’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Malta’s unemployment rate averaged 3.117% for 2025, mirroring the average 3.117% in 2024 according to International Monetary Fund metrics.
Malta’s capital city is Valletta, the smallest national capital in the European Union.
See also Malta’s Top Trading Partners, Germany’s Top Trading Partners, Italy’s Top Trading Partners, France’s Top Trading Partners and Japan’s Top Trading Partners
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Europe: Malta. Accessed on April 25, 2026
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on April 25, 2026
International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (Domestic Currency per U.S. dollar, period average). Accessed on April 25, 2026
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on April 25, 2026
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on April 25, 2026
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on April 25, 2026
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Malta. Accessed on April 25, 2026
Wikipedia, Malta. Accessed on April 25, 2026
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on April 25, 2026
X-rates.com, Exchange Rates: Euro to US Dollar (monthly average 2025)