An Oceanian country situated immediately north of Australia, the Independent State of Papua New Guinea shipped US$13.8 billion worth of exported products around the world in 2024.

That calculated dollar amount results from a 32.3% increase from $10.4 billion five years earlier in 2020.

Year over year, the overall value of Papua New Guinean exports accelerated by 38.5% compared to $9.9 billion starting from 2023.

The top 5 most valuable goods exported from Papua New Guinea are petroleum gases, metals clad with platinum, copper ores and concentrates, crude petroleum oil and palm oil. Revealing a concentrated portfolio, those five leading product groups represent almost three-quarters (73.8%) of value of Papua New Guinea’s exports during 2024.

Papua New Guinea’s Major Trading Partners

The latest available country-specific data shows that 90.1% of products exported from Papua New Guinea was bought by importers in: Japan (22.1% of the Papua New Guinean total), Australia (20%), mainland China (18.5%), Taiwan (6.7%), Singapore (6.3%), North Korea (4.7%), Malaysia (2.9%), Philippines (2.4%), Thailand (1.9%), Netherlands (1.65%), United Kingdom (1.58%) and Germany (1.4%).

From a continental perspective, 69.1% of Papua New Guinea’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 20.7% was sold to importers in Oceania mostly Australia. Papua New Guinea shipped another 8.8% worth of goods to buyers in Europe.

Smaller percentages went to buyers in North America (1.2%), Africa (0.13%) then Latin America (0.0002%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.

Given Papua New Guinea’s population of 12.54 million people, its total $13.8 billion in exports translates to roughly $1,100 for every resident in the island country. That dollar metric equals the average $1,100 per capita one year earlier for 2023.

Papua New Guinea’s Top 10 Exports

The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Papua New Guinean global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Papua New Guinea.

1. Mineral fuels including oil: US$6.2 billion (44.7% of total exports)
2. Gems, precious metals: $2.6 billion (19%)
3. Ores, slag, ash: $1.7 billion (12.6%)
4. Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $789 million (5.7%)
5. Fish: $519.9 million (3.8%)
6. Cocoa: $325.5 million (2.4%)
7. Ships, boats: $266.7 million (1.9%)
8. Nickel: $262.6 million (1.9%)
9. Wood: $236.3 million (1.7%)
10. Meat/seafood preparations: $220 million (1.6%)

Papua New Guinea’s top 10 exports accounted for 95.4% of the overall value of its global shipments.

Ships and boats represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 1,709% from 2023 to 2024.

In second place for improving export sales was cocoa via a 168.1% advance.

Papua New Guinea’s shipments of ores, slag and ash posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 80.7%.

The leading decliner among Papua New Guinea’s top 10 export categories was nickel, recording a -15.2% year-over-year drop.

At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, petroleum gases represent Papua New Guinea’s most valuable exported product at 38.4% of the country’s total. In second place were metals clad with platinum (15.8%), trailed by copper ores and concentrates (9.3%), crude oil (5.3%), palm oil (4.9%), precious metal ores and concentrates (3.2%), unwrought gold (2.6%), cocoa beans (2.4%) then nickel matte and oxide sinters (1.9%).

Products Behind Papua New Guinea’s Best Trade Surpluses

Overall Papua New Guinea achieved a US$7.2 billion trade surplus for 2024, accelerating by 90.7% from the $3.8 billion in black ink one year earlier in 2023.

The following types of Papua New Guinean 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.

1. Mineral fuels including oil: US$5 billion (Up by 58% since 2023)
2. Gems, precious metals: $2.6 billion (Up by 32.6%)
3. Ores, slag, ash: $1.7 billion (Up by 81.3%)
4. Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $740.9 million (Down by -15.9%)
5. Fish: $506.4 million (Up by 13.3%)
6. Cocoa: $319.5 million (Up by 174.3%)
7. Nickel: $262.5 million (Down by -15.2%)
8. Wood: $229.5 million (Down by -13%)
9. Coffee, tea, spices: $187.9 million (Down by -16.2%)
10. Meat/seafood preparations: $181 million (Up by 18.9%)

Historically, Papua New Guinea earns positive net exports in the international trade of petroleum gases and, to a lesser extent, crude oil. In turn, these cashflows indicate Papua New Guinea’s strong competitive advantages under the category named mineral fuels including oil.

Products Causing Papua New Guinea’s Worst Trade Deficits

Below are exports from Papua New Guinea that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Papua New Guinea’s goods trail Papua New Guinean importer spending on foreign products.

1. Machinery including computers: -US$1 billion (Up by 3.1% since 2023)
2. Vehicles: -$511.6 million (Up by 16.8%)
3. Electrical machinery, equipment: -$435.1 million (Down by -9.9%)
4. Cereals: -$366.7 million (Up by 11.5%)
5. Articles of iron or steel: -$273.9 million (Up by 3.6%)
6. Meat: -$168.1 million (Down by -6.2%)
7. Plastics, plastic articles: -$164.5 million (Up by 10.6%)
8. Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefab buildings: -$152 million (Up by 141.9%)
9. Miscellaneous food preparations: -$147.9 million (Up by 26.6%)
10. Rubber, rubber articles: -$129.8 million (Up by 17%)

Papua New Guinea has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the machinery including computers category.

Papua New Guinean Export Companies

Not one Papua New Guinean corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.

Wikipedia lists exports-related companies from Papua New Guinea. Selected examples are shown below.

• Bank South Pacific (international bank)
• InterOil (oil, gas)
• Liquid Niugini LNG (natural gas)
• Oil Search Limited (oil, gas)
• Ok Tedi Mining Limited (copper, gold mining)
• PNG Air (airliner)

 
In macroeconomic terms, Papua New Guinea’s total exported goods represent 30.7% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($44.8 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 30.7% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 compares to 32.8% for 2023. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Papua New Guinea’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.

Any key indicator for an economy’s health is the unemployment rate. Papua New Guinea’s unemployment rate averaged 2.7% in 2024, equaling the average 2.7% in 2023 per Trading Economics statistics.

Papua New Guinea’s capital city is Port Moresby, nicknamed “Pom City”.

See also Gold Exports by Country, Silver Exports by Country and Platinum Exports by Country.

Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on October 5, 2025

Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on October 5, 2025

International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on October 5, 2025

Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on October 5, 2025

International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on October 5, 2025

Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on October 5, 2025

Wikipedia, List of Companies of Papua New Guinea. Accessed on October 5, 2025

Wikipedia, Papua New Guinea. Accessed on October 5, 2025

Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on October 5, 2025