Located in the southeastern part of South America, the Oriental Republic of Uruguay shipped US$11.3 billion worth of exported products around the globe in 2025.

That dollar metric results from a 18.3% acceleration from $9.5 billion five years earlier in 2021.

Year over year, the overall value of Uruguay’s exports accelerated by 10.2% compared to $10.2 billion starting from 2024.

Based on the average exchange rate for 2025 on a Purchasing Power Parity basis, the Uruguayan peso depreciated by -6.1% against the US dollar since 2021 but appreciated by 2.3% from 2024 to 2025. Uruguay’s weaker local currency compared to 2021 makes Uruguayan exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers starting with American currency.

Uruguay’s Best Exports Customers

The latest available country-specific data shows that 63.2% of products imported into Uruguay was furnished by exporters in: mainland China (16% of the Uruguayan total), Brazil (14.6%), United States of America (11.1%), Argentina (4.3%), Netherlands (3.2%), Algeria (3.1%), Türkiye (3%), Mexico (2.4%), Israel (1.7%), Italy (1.5%), United Kingdom (1.22%) and Chile (1.2%).

From a continental perspective, 30.0% of Uruguayan exports by value was delivered to Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean countries while 30.5% was sold to Asian importers.

Uruguay shipped another 17.4% worth of goods to buyers in North America.

Smaller percentages went to customers located in Europe (14.6%), Africa (7.4%) then Oceania (0.2%) led by French Polynesia, Australia and New Zealand.

Given Uruguay’s population of 3.51 million people, its total US$11.3 billion in 2025 exports translates to roughly $3,500 for every resident in the South American country. That dollar metric surpasses the average $2,900 per capita one year earlier in 2024.

Uruguay’s Top 10 Exports

The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Uruguayan global shipments during 2025. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Uruguay.

1. Meat: US$2.9 billion (26% of total exports)
2. Oil seeds: $1.7 billion (15.1%)
3. Wood: $1.4 billion (12.1%)
4. Dairy, eggs, honey: $942.1 million (8.3%)
5. Cereals: $831.7 million (7.4%)
6. Live animals: $423.1 million (3.7%)
7. Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $357.9 million (3.2%)
8. Vehicles: $334.3 million (3%)
9. Plastics, plastic articles: $291.6 million (2.6%)
10. Milling products, malt, starches: $245.1 million (2.2%)

Uruguay’s top 10 exports accounted for 83.5% of the overall value of its global shipments.

Live animals: was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 39.3% from 2024 to 2025.

In second place for improving export sales were oil seeds which rose 33.6%.

Uruguay’s shipments of meat posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 30.1% year over year.

The leading decliner among Uruguay’s top 10 export categories was the vehicles category, which fell -33.8% from 2024.

From the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, Uruguay’s most valuable exported products in 2025 were frozen beef (17.7% of total Uruguayan exports), soya beans (14%), rough wood (8.9%), concentrated or sweetened milk and cream (6.4%), fresh or chilled beef (5.8%), rice (4.8%), live bovine animals (3.7%), trucks (2.4%), wheat (3.5%), then malt (2.1%).

Products Generating Uruguay’s Largest Trade Surpluses

The following types of Uruguayan 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. Meat: US$2.5 billion (Up by 30.4% since 2024)
2. Oil seeds: $1.7 billion (Up by 35.1%)
3. Wood: $1.3 billion (Up by 3.3%)
4. Dairy, eggs, honey: $901.1 million (Up by 14.9%)
5. Cereals: $744.7 million (Down by -21.9%)
6. Live animals: $415.4 million (Up by 40%)
7. Milling products, malt, starches: $227.5 million (Down by -16.2%)
8. Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $150.3 million (Up by 18.3%)
9. Wool: $142.2 million (Up by 18.7%)
10. Miscellaneous animal-origin products: $95.2 million (Up by 76.4%)

Uruguay has highly positive net exports in the international trade of meat, and in particular beef. In turn, these cashflows indicate Uruguay’s strong competitive advantages under the meat product category.

Products Causing Uruguay’s Worst Trade Deficits

Uruguay incurred an overall -US$1.7 billion trade deficit during 2025, reducing by -27% from the -$2.3 billion in red ink one year earlier for 2024.

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

1. Mineral fuels including oil: -US$1.52 billion (Down by -10.5% since 2024)
2. Vehicles: -$1.5 billion (Up by 15.7%)
3. Machinery including computers: -$1.3 billion (Up by 8.4%)
4. Electrical machinery, equipment: -$857.6 million (Up by 5.2%)
5. Fertilizers: -$483.7 million (Up by 34.9%)
6. Other chemical goods: -$296.7 million (Up by 3.3%)
7. Plastics, plastic articles: -$264.6 million (Down by -8.0%)
8. Pharmaceuticals: -$244.7 million (Up by 7.2%)
9. Articles of iron or steel: -$236.1 million (Up by 8.5%)
10. Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefab buildings: -$218.4 million (Down by -1.2%)

Historically, Uruguay has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits notably for crude and refined petroleum oils as well as petroleum gases under the mineral fuels including oil product category.

Uruguayan Export Companies

Not one Uruguayan corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.

Wikipedia lists exporters from Uruguay. Selected examples are shown below:

• Aeromás (airliner)
• Alas Uruguay (airlines start-up)
• Effa Motor (vehicles)
• Texlond Corporation (aircraft manufacturer)
• Union Agriculture Group (rice, soya beans, wheat, sheep, cattle)

 
In macroeconomic terms, Uruguay’s total exported goods represent 8.7% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2025 ($130.2 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 8.7% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2025 compares to 8.3% one year earlier in 2024. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Uruguay’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.

Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Uruguay’s unemployment rate averaged 8.025% for 2025, down from the average 8.183% in 2024 per International Monetary Fund statistics.

Uruguay’s capital city is Montevideo, Uruguay.

See also Uruguay’s Top 10 Imports, Uruguay’s Top Trading Partners, Brazil’s Top 25 Trading Partners, Argentina’s Top Trading Partners and Mexico’s Top Trading Partners

Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook: Country Profiles. Accessed on July 16, 2026

EXCHANGE-RATES.org Uruguay Peso (UYU) To US Dollar (USD) Exchange Rate History, for 2025. Accessed on July 16, 2026

Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 16, 2026

International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on July 16, 2026

International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 16, 2026

Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 16, 2026

Wikipedia, Categories: Companies of Uruguay. Accessed on July 16, 2026

Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on July 16, 2026

Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on July 16, 2026

Wikipedia, Uruguay. Accessed on July 16, 2026