That dollar amount results from a 137.3% acceleration from $3.5 billion 5 years earlier in 2020.
Year over year, the total value of Mozambican exports flatlined via a -0.8% slowdown compared to $8.3 billion for 2023.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2024, the Mozambican metical depreciated by -17.4% against the US dollar since the end of December 2020 and declined by -0.5% from December 2023 to December 2024. Mozambique’s weaker local currency compared to 2020 makes its exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers starting from American currency.
Mozambique’s Best Exports Customers
The latest available country-specific data shows that 82.2% of products exported from Mozambique was bought by importers in: India (17.9% of the Mozambican total), mainland China (16.4%), South Africa (14.7%), Singapore (8.7%), South Korea (4.9%), Vietnam (4.3%), United Kingdom (4%), Netherlands (3.6%), United Arab Emirates (2.2%), Zambia (2.1%), Malaysia (1.7%) and Thailand (1.6%).
From a continental perspective, 62.1% of Mozambique exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 20.9% was sold to fellow African nations. Mozambique shipped another 15.5% worth of goods to customers based in Europe.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in North America (1.5%), Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean (0.02%) then Oceania (0.01%) led by Australia and Marshall Islands.
Given Mozambique’s population of 34.9 million people, its total $8.2 billion in 2024 exports translates to roughly $235 for every resident in the southeast African nation. That per-capita metric lags the average $240 in 2023.
Mozambique’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups categorize the highest dollar value in Mozambican global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Mozambique.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$4.8 billion (58.9% of total exports)
- Aluminum: $1.3 billion (15.7%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $469.4 million (5.7%)
- Oil seeds: $275.9 million (3.4%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $217.2 million (2.6%)
- Fruits, nuts: $172 million (2.1%)
- Vegetables: $167.9 million (2%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $136 million (1.7%)
- Gems, precious metals: $121.9 million (1.5%)
- Sugar, sugar confectionery: $43.6 million (0.5%)
Mozambique’s top 10 export product categories are concentrated product categories, given that they represent 94.1% of the overall value of Mozambican global shipments.
Sugar including sugar confectionery was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 55.1% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for improving export sales was tobacco plus manufactured substitutes via a 40.9% advance.
Mozambique’s shipments of fruits and nuts posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 34.2%.
The leading decliner among Mozambique’s top 10 export categories was gems and precious metals, thanks to a -53.2% year-over-year drop.
The product categories listed above is at the two-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level.
Drilling down to the more detailed four-digit HTS codes, Mozambique’s most valuable exported goods are petroleum gases (24% of Mozambican total), coal including solid fuels made from coal (21.3%), raw aluminum (13.7%), electrical energy (8.4%), titanium ores and concentrates (4.3%), coke and semi-coke (3.1%), oil seeds (2.9%), unmanufactured tobacco including tobacco waste (2.6%), dried shelled vegetables (2%) then aluminum wire (also 2%).
Products Creating Mozambique’s Greatest Trade Surpluses
The following types of Mozambican 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$2.9 billion (Up by 9% since 2023)
- Aluminum: $1.2 billion (Down by -0.1%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $443.6 million (Down by -9.9%)
- Tobacco, manufactured substitutes: $192.8 million (Up by 41.3%)
- Oil seeds: $186.7 million (Down by -26.9%)
- Fruits, nuts: $163.2 million (Up by 39.4%)
- Gems, precious metals: $121.7 million (Down by -53.2%)
- Vegetables: $112.7 million (Up by 22.4%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $53.7 million (Up by 13.5%)
- Feathers, artificial flowers, hair: $41 million (Down by -6.2%)
Historically, Mozambique has highly positive net exports in the international trade of coal and petroleum gas. In turn, these cashflows indicate Mozambique’s strong competitive advantages under the mineral fuels including oil product category.
Products Driving Mozambique’s Biggest Trade Deficits
Mozambique incurred an overall trade deficit of -US$1 billion during 2024, reducing by -44.2% from -$1.8 billion one year earlier during 2023.
Below are exports from Mozambique that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Mozambique’s goods trail Mozambican importer spending on foreign products.
- Machinery including computers: -US$960.6 million (Down by -13.1% since 2023)
- Cereals: -$784.5 million (Up by 15%)
- Vehicles: -$649.3 million (Down by -11.2%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$540.1 million (Down by -14.8%)
- Inorganic chemicals: -$307.6 million (Down by -35%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: -$250.5 million (Down by -21.3%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$210.1 million (Down by -29.1%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$209.6 million (Down by -3.7%)
- Iron, steel: -$194 million (Up by 29%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$187.1 million (Down by -9%)
Mozambique has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the machinery including computers product category.
Mozambique’s Export Companies
Not one corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia does list a handful of companies from Mozambique that engage as players in international trade. Selected examples are shown below.
- Beira Railroad Corporation (port-access railroads)
- Illovo Sugar Limited (raw and refined sugar)
- Mozal (aluminum smelter)
- Telecomunicações de Moçambique (telecommunications, internet services)
In macroeconomic terms, Mozambique’s total exported goods represent 13.9% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($58.9 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 13.9% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 compares to 14.7% one year earlier. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Mozambique’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key metric indicating a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. The Mozambican unemployment rate averaged 3.53% for 2024, up from an average 3.52% jobless rate in 2023.
Mozambique’s capital city is Maputo.
See also Top African Export Countries, Top South African Trading Partners, Nigeria’s Top 10 Exports and Togo’s Top 10 Exports
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, Country Profiles, The World Factbook. Accessed on October 14, 2025
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on October 14, 2025
Wise, Mozambican metical to US dollars (Historical exchange rates). Accessed on October 14, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on October 14, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on October 14, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on October 14, 2025
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on October 14, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Mozambique. Accessed on October 14, 2025
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on October 14, 2025