That calculated dollar amount results from a 450.7% acceleration from 5 years earlier in 2020 when Turkmenistan’s exports totaled $2.52 billion.
Year over year, the value of products exported from Turkmenistan fell by -9.2% compared to $15.3 billion during 2023.
Turkmenistan’s 3 biggest exported products by sales in 2024 are petroleum gases, refined petroleum oils and nitrogenous fertilizers. Collectively, that trio of leading exports represents 91.7% of the overall revenues from the country’s total shipments during 2024. Such a high percentage indicates an intensely concentrated array of exported goods.
Turkmenistan’s Major Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 97.9% of products exported from Turkmenistan was bought by importers in: mainland China (69.4% of the Turkmen total), Uzbekistan (10.7%), Türkiye (7.7%), Greece (2.3%), Azerbaijan (2.2%), Kazakhstan (1.6%), Bulgaria (0.9%), Singapore (0.81%), India (0.78%), Ukraine (0.57%), Argentina (0.54%) and Georgia (0.4%).
From a continental perspective, 94% of Turkmenistan’s exports by value was delivered to fellow Asian countries while 4.7% was sold to importers in Europe. Turkmenistan shipped another 1.1% worth of goods to customers located in Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in North America (0.2%), Africa (0.02%) then Oceania (0.001%) mostly Australia and New Zealand.
Given Turkmenistan’s population of 6.6 million people, its total $13.9 billion in 2024 exports translates to roughly $2,100 for every resident in the Central Asian nation. That dollar metric lags the average $2,200 per capita one year earlier in 2023.
Turkmenistan’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Turkmen global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Turkmenistan.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$12.9 billion (93.4% of total exports)
- Fertilizers: $465.7 million (3.4%)
- Cotton: $120.4 million (0.9%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $62.9 million (0.5%)
- Vegetables: $61.4 million (0.4%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $47.7 million (0.3%)
- Soaps, washing preparations, lubricants, waxes: $14 million (0.1%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $12.7 million (0.1%)
- Machinery including computers: $10.3 million (0.1%)
- Gums, resins, other vegetable saps: $9.9 million (0.1%)
Turkmenistan’s top 10 export product categories generated 99.2% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Salt, sulphur, stone and cement represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 61.2% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for improving export sales were inorganic chemicals via a 54.3% advance.
Turkmenistan’s shipments of plastics, including both as materials and items made from plastic, posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 42.2%.
The leading decliner among Turkmenistan’s top 10 export categories was gums, resins and other vegetable saps, pulled down by a -59.9% year-over-year drop.
From the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, petroleum gases represent Turkmenistan’s most valuable exported product representing 78.8% of the country’s total. In second place were refined petroleum oils (10.6%) trailed by nitrogenous fertilizers (2.4%), crude oil (1.7%), electrical energy (1.6%), potassic fertilizers (1%), cotton-heavy yarn (0.5%), fluorine, chlorine, bromine and iodine (0.4%), fresh or chilled tomatoes (also 0.4%), then petroleum oil residues (0.3%).
Products Driving Turkmenistan’s Best Trade Surpluses
Overall Turkmenistan achieved a US$9.9 billion trade surplus for 2024, flatlining via a -0.9% slowdown from $10 billion in black ink one year earlier in 2023.
The following types of Turkmenistan 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$12.9 billion (Down by -8.8% since 2023)
- Fertilizers: $435.9 million (Down by -16.2%)
- Cotton: $98.9 million (Down by -19.6%)
- Vegetables: $47.1 million (Up by 111.1%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $31 million (Reversing a -$1.2 million deficit)
- Gums, resins, other vegetable saps: $9.4 million (Down by -61.5%)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $9.2 million (Up by 0.3%)
- Vegetable plaiting materials: $4 million (Up by 1350.5%)
- Copper: $2 million (Down by -22.4%)
- Collector items, art, antiques: $931,000 (Reversing a -$21,000 deficit)
Historically, Turkmenistan earns highly positive net exports in the international trade of petroleum gases, refined petroleum oils and crude oil. In turn, these cashflows indicate Turkmenistan’s strong competitive advantages under the category mineral fuels including oil.
Products Causing Turkmenistan’s Worst Trade Deficits
Below are exports from Turkmenistan that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Turkmenistan’s goods trail Turkmenistan importer spending on foreign products.
- Machinery including computers: -US$842.2 million (Down by -12.6% since 2023)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$455.7 million (Down by -40.3%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$308.7 million (Down by -15.8%)
- Vehicles: -$222.6 million (Down by -60%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$126.8 million (Down by -9.4%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$121.9 million (Up by 18.7%)
- Other chemical goods: -$117.9 million (Down by -12.3%)
- Iron, steel: -$110.4 million (Down by -4.6%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefab buildings: -$104.4 million (Up by 13.7%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: -$94.4 million (Up by 693.8%)
Turkmenistan has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the product category titled machinery including computers.
Turkmenistan Export Companies
No Turkmenistan corporations rank among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia lists exports-related companies from Turkmenistan. Selected examples are shown below.
- Turkmenistan Airlines (airliner)
- Türkmengaz (natural gas)
- Türkmennebit (oil, gas)
In macroeconomic terms, Turkmenistan’s total exported goods represent 7.8% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($177.3 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 7.8% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 compares to 8.5% for 2023. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Turkmenistan’s total economic performance, albeit based on estimates over a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of economic health is a country’s jobless rate. Turkmenistan averaged a 4.3% unemployment rate for 2024, up from the average 4.1% jobless rate in 2023.
Turkmenistan’s capital city is Ashgabat, nicknamed the “City of White Marble”.
See also OPEC Crude Oil Exports Sales Data, Petroleum Gas Exports by Country and Crude Oil Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Central Asia: Turkmenistan. Accessed on December 11, 2025
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on December 11, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on December 11, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on December 11, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on December 11, 2025
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on December 11, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Turkmenistan. Accessed on December 11, 2025
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on December 11, 2025
Wikipedia, Turkmenistan. Accessed on December 11, 2025