That calculated dollar amount reflects a -57.6% downturn from $1.43 billion 5 years earlier in 2020.
Year over year, the overall value of Rwandan exports dropped by -56.6% compared to $1.4 billion starting from 2023.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2024, Rwanda’s legal currency is the Rwandan franc which depreciated by -27.5% against the US dollar since 2020 and diluted by -12.2% from 2023 to 2024. The weaker local Rwandan currency in 2024 made Rwanda’s exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively lesser expensive for international buyers starting with American currency.
The top 5 most valuable exports from Rwanda by value are niobium or zirconium ores and concentrates, coffee, tin ores and concentrates, tea including flavored versions, then aircraft and spacecraft.
Collectively, Rwanda’s 5 major exported goods represent about two-thirds (66.3%) of Rwanda’s shipments in 2024. Such a high percentage indicates a concentrated portfolio of Rwandan exports.
Rwanda’s Most Valuable Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data from 2022 shows that 91.6% of products exported from Rwanda was bought by importers in: United Arab Emirates (31.8% of the Rwandan total), Greece (19.2%), Democratic Republic of the Congo (10.7%), Kenya (8.1%), Zambia (6.9%), Australia (4.1%), Switzerland (2.9%), Ethiopia (1.8%), United States of America (1.69%), Central African Republic (1.66%), South Sudan (1.39%) and Congo (1.37%).
From a continental perspective, more than a third (34.9%) of Rwanda’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 32.7% was sold to importers in fellow African nations. Rwanda shipped another 26.4% worth of goods to buyers in Europe.
Smaller percentages went to customers in Australia and New Zealand in Oceania (4.2%), North America (1.8%) then Latin America (0.002%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
Given Rwanda’s population of 13.9 million people, its total $606.8 million in 2024 exports translates to roughly $45 for every resident in the Central African nation. That dollar estimate surpasses the average $40 per capita calculated for one year earlier in 2023.
Rwanda’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Rwandan global shipments during 2024, 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 Rwanda.
- Ores, slag, ash: US$240.8 million (39.7% of total exports)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $158 million (26%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: $47.8 million (7.9%)
- Tin: $23.3 million (3.8%)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $19.1 million (3.2%)
- Cereal/milk preparations: $13.8 million (2.3%)
- Vegetables: $13.4 million (2.2%)
- Gums, resins, other vegetable saps: $7.6 million (1.2%)
- Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $6.9 million (1.1%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $5.5 million (0.9%)
Rwanda’s top 10 export product groupings generated 88.4% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Aircraft and spacecraft represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 58,220% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for improving export sales was tin via a 178.4% advance.
Rwanda’s shipments of live trees, plants and cut flowers posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 135%.
The severest decliner among Rwanda’s top 10 export categories were cereal or milk preparations, thanks to a -55.4% year-over-year drop.
The above listed product groups are at the two-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level.
Drilling down to the more granular four-digit codes, niobium or zirconium ores and concentrates represent Rwanda’s most valuable exported product at 19.7% of the African country’s total. In second place was coffee (15.9%), tin ores and concentrates (13%), tea including flavored versions (9.9%), aircraft and spacecraft (7.8%), unwrought tin (3.8%), tungsten ores and concentrates (3%), unknitted and non-crocheted women’s coats and jackets (2.5%), flour, meal, starch and malt extract food preparations (2.3%), then miscellaneous ores and concentrates (1.6%).
Products Generating Rwanda’s Best Trade Surpluses
The following types of Rwandan 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.
- Ores, slag, ash: US$240.4 million (Up by 32.4% since 2023)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $154.8 million (Up by 10.9%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: $38.4 million (Reversing a -$22 million deficit)
- Tin: $23.3 million (Up by 182.6%)
- Live trees, plants, cut flowers: $6.7 million (Up by 140.5%)
- Gums, resins, other vegetable saps: $6.7 million (Down by -6.6%)
- Lead: $4.5 million (Down by -20.5%)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $2.3 million (Down by -16%)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $1.27 million (Down by -84%)
- Woodpulp: $772,000 (Up by 84.2%)
Rwanda has highly positive net exports in the international trade of niobium, tantalum, vanadium or zirconium ores and concentrates, these cashflows indicate Rwanda’s strong competitive advantages under the ores, slag and ash product category.
Products Causing Rwanda’s Worst Trade Deficits
Rwanda incurred an estimated -US$1.5 billion trade deficit for 2024, expanding by 72.8% from -$873.6 million in red ink one year earlier in 2023.
Below are exports from Rwanda that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Rwanda’s goods trail Rwandan importer spending on foreign products.
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -US$255.7 million (Down by -3.7% since 2023)
- Vehicles: -$156.3 million (Down by -13.3%)
- Machinery including computers: -$150.9 million (Down by -21%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: -$107.9 million (Up by 218.4%)
- Fish: -$93.5 million (Up by 10.1%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$83.4 million (Down by -17%)
- Sugar, sugar confectionery: -$77.1 million (Up by 17.1%)
- Cereals: -$71.9 million (Down by -37.2%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$64 million (Down by -7.8%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$60.9 million (Down by -0.3%)
Rwanda has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the electrical machinery and equipment product category.
Rwandan Export Companies
Not one Rwandan corporation ranks on the Forbes Global 2000 list.
Wikipedia lists companies from Rwanda that are involved in export-related activities. Selected examples are shown below.
- Access Bank Rwanda (commercial bank)
- Bralirwa Brewery (beer, soft drinks)
- Great Lakes Energy (electricity)
- Rwanda Development Bank (financing institution)
- Terracom (mobile telecommunications)
In macroeconomic terms, Rwanda’s total exported goods represent an estimated 0.001% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($52.9 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 0.001% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 compares to the same .001% for 2023. Those percentages suggest a relatively stable reliance on products sold on international markets for Rwanda’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of economic health is a country’s jobless rate. Rwanda’s unemployment rate averaged 11.99% for 2024, down from an average 12.35% in 2023 according to Macro Trends metrics.
Rwanda’s capital city is Kigali.
See also South Sudan’s Top 10 Exports, Somalia’s Top 10 Exports, Top African Export Countries and South Africa’s Top 100 Imported Consumer Products
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on November 27, 2025
Forbes, Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on November 27, 2025
International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (Domestic Currency per U.S. dollar, period average). Accessed on November 27, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Databases (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on November 27, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on November 27, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on November 27, 2025
Wikipedia, Flag of Rwanda. Accessed on November 27, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Rwanda. Accessed on November 27, 2025
Wikipedia, Rwanda. Accessed on November 27, 2025