That estimated dollar amount results from a 64.5% increase from $41.8 billion during 2018.
Year over year, revenues collected for Oman’s total exports accelerated by 54% compared to $44.6 billion for 2021.
Oman’s top 5 most valuable exported products are crude oil, petroleum gases, processed petroleum oils, nitrogenous fertilizers, and semi-finished goods made from iron or non-alloy steel. Combined, those 5 product groups represent well over four-fifths (86.9%) of Oman’s total exports by value in 2022. Such a high percentage indicates a concentrated range of exported goods.
Given Oman’s population of 4.63 million people, its total $68.7 billion in 2022 exports translates to roughly $14,800 for every resident in the Middle Eastern country. That dollar amount exceeds Oman’s average $12,400 per person one year earlier during 2021.
Oman’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Omani global shipments during 2022, 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 Oman.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$53.6 billion (78% of total exports)
- Fertilizers: $3.6 billion (5.3%)
- Iron, steel: $3.2 billion (4.7%)
- Organic chemicals: $2.3 billion (3.3%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $2 billion (2.9%)
- Aluminum: $1.2 billion (1.8%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $730.6 million (1.1%)
- Articles of iron or steel: $333.6 million (0.5%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $331.4 million (0.5%)
- Fish: $234.2 million (0.3%)
Oman’s top 10 exports accounted for 98.4% of the overall value of Omani global shipments.
Fertilizers were the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 141.6% from 2021 to 2022.
In second place for improving export sales was mineral fuels including oil: via a 98.8% advance led by petroleum gases, refined oils and crude oil.
Oman’s shipments of iron and steel posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 83.9%.
The leading decliner among Oman’s top 10 export categories was articles made from iron or steel, thanks to a -35.9% year-over-year reduction.
Drilling down to the more granular four-digit HTS codes, crude oil represents Oman’s most valuable exported product at 48.4% of the country’s total. In second place were petroleum gases (19%) trailed by processed petroleum oils (10.3%), nitrogenous fertilizers (5.2%), semi-finished products made from iron or non-alloy steel (4%), acyclic alcohols (2.8%), iron ores and concentrates (1%), polyacetal, ether and carbonates (0.8%), plastic plates, sheets or tape (0.8%), then unwrought aluminum (also 0.8%).
Products Generating Oman’s Largest Trade Surpluses
Overall, Oman generated an estimated $53 billion trade surplus for 2022, up by 289.7% from $13.6 billion in black ink one year earlier in 2021.
The following types of Omani 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$52.8 billion (Up by 125.8% since 2021)
- Fertilizers: $3.6 billion (Up by 149.8%)
- Iron, steel: $2.8 billion (Up by 795.3%)
- Organic chemicals: $1.6 billion (Up by 177.1%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $1.6 billion (Up by 11.8%)
- Aluminum: $1.2 billion (Up by 34.3%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $322.1 million (Up by 34%)
- Fish: $220.1 million (Down by -13%)
- Gems, precious metals: $42.2 million (Reversing a -$729 million deficit in 2021)
- Other base metals: $30.2 million (Up by 200.5%)
Oman has highly positive net exports in the international trade of petroleum oils (both crude and refined) as well as petroleum gases. In turn, these cashflows indicate Oman’s strong competitive advantages under the mineral fuels including oil product category.
Products Causing Oman’s Worst Trade Deficits
Below are exports from Oman that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Oman’s goods trail Omani importer spending on foreign products.
- Vehicles: -US$2.2 billion (Up by 74.2% since 2021)
- Machinery including computers: -$2 billion (Down by -18%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$1.1 billion (Down by -29%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$542.4 million (Down by -24.5%)
- Dairy, eggs, honey: -$396 million (Down by -15.2%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: -$350.3 million (Up by 280.6%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefabricated buildings: -$348.8 million (Up by 19.1%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: -$315.5 million (Reversing a $76.6 million surplus in 2021)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$307.8 million (Down by -5.5%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$304.1 million (Down by -31.8%)
Oman has highly negative net exports under the vehicles product category.
Omani Export Companies
One Omani corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000, namely Bank Muscat (regional bank).
Wikipedia also lists export-related companies from Oman. Selected examples are shown below.
- Oman LNG (oil, gas)
- Oman Oil Company (oil, gas)
- Oman Refinery Company (oil, gas)
- Omantel (telecommunications)
- Petroleum Development Oman (oil, gas)
- The Shaksy Group (diversified holding company)
In macroeconomic terms, Oman’s total exported goods represent 36% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2022 ($190.9 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 36% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2022 compares to 38.2% for 2021. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Oman’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Oman’s unemployment rate averaged 2.3% in 2022, down from an average 2.5% for 2021 per Trading Economics.
Oman’s capital city is Muscat.
See also Crude Oil Exports by Country, UAE’s Top 10 Exports, Qatar’s Top Trading Partners and India’s Top Trading Partners
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on June 8, 2023
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on June 8, 2023
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on June 8, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on June 8, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on June 8, 2023
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on June 8, 2023
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Oman. Accessed on June 8, 2023
Wikipedia, Oman. Accessed on June 8, 2023
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on June 8, 2023
