The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Caymanian global shipments during 2018, 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 Cayman Islands.

1. Ships, boats: US$955.5 million (91.8% of total exports)
2. Electrical machinery, equipment: $12.5 million (1.2%)
3. Lead: $10.7 million (1%)
4. Machinery including computers: $10.7 million (1%)
5. Cereals: $7.9 million (0.8%)
6. Aircraft, spacecraft: $6.8 million (0.7%)
7. Woodpulp: $2.4 million (0.2%)
8. Collector items, art, antiques: $1.6 million (0.2%)
9. Gems, precious metals: $1.4 million (0.1%)
10. Furniture, bedding, lighting , signs, prefab buildings: $1.3 million (0.1%)

By value, Cayman Islands’ top 10 exports accounted for 97.1% of the overall value of its global shipments.

Woodpulp was the fastest-growing among the top 10 export categories, up by 26,844% since 2017.

In second place for improving export sales was lead which was up by 440.9% year over year.

Cayman Islands’ shipments of aircraft and spacecraft posted the third-fastest gain in value up by 29.6%.

The leading decliner among the top 10 Cayman Islands’ export categories was gems and precious metals thanks to a -95% drop weighed down by plummeting international sales of gold.

From the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, yachts and similar vessels represent Cayman Islands’ most valuable exported product comprising 91.8% of the country’s total. In second place was lead (1%) trailed by phone system devices including smartphones (0.9%), wheat: (0.8%), aircraft (0.6%), then computers including optical readers (0.5%).

Two product categories earned surpluses for the Cayman Islands in 2018, namely wheat with US$5.8 million in positive net exports and Cayman Islands’ exported nickel at $11,000 worth of black ink.

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.

In turn, these cashflows indicate Cayman Islands’ competitive advantages for these product categories.

Overall Cayman Islands racked up an estimated -$3.9 billion product trade deficit for 2018, up 18.9% from -$3.3 billion in red ink one year earlier.

Below are exports from Cayman Islands that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Cayman Islands’ goods trail Caymanian importer spending on foreign products.

1. Ships, boats: -US$2.5 billion (Up by 25.9% since 2017)
2. Mineral fuels including oil: -$172.4 million (Down by -29%)
3. Aircraft, spacecraft: -$136.9 million (Up by 3735.7%)
4. Woodpulp: -$115.4 million (Down by -11.3%)
5. Machinery including computers: -$71.5 million (Up by 26.3%)
6. Paper, paper items: -$63.4 million (Down by -45.3%)
7. Gems, precious metals: -$58.9 million (Up by 209.9%)
8. Vehicles: -$56.5 million (Up by 4.6%)
9. Electrical machinery, equipment: -$48.6 million (Up by 44%)
10. Furniture, bedding, lighting , signs, prefab buildings: -$33.4 million (Up by 5.2%)

Cayman Islands has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the highly capital-intensive ships and boats category.

Caymanian Export Companies

One Caymanian corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000, specifically pharmaceuticals supplier Herbalife Ltd.

Wikipedia also lists exports-related companies from the Cayman Islands. Selected examples are shown below:

• Fabrinet (telecommunications equipment)
• O2Micro International Limited (semiconductors)
• Ocean Rig (oil, gas)
• Theravance Biopharma, Inc (pharmaceuticals)