Located in the southeastern part of South America, the Oriental Republic of Uruguay shipped US$9.51 billion worth of goods around the globe in 2021. That dollar amount represents a 19.6% increase from $7.95 billion in 2017.

Year over year, the overall value of Uruguay’s exports accelerated by 35.6% compared to $7 billion for 2020.

The 5 biggest exports from Uruguay by value are frozen beef, soya beans, rough wood, concentrated or sweetened milk and cream, then electrical energy. Collectively, that quintet of major exports represents almost half (49.2%) of the total value of Uruguayan shipments in 2021.

From a continental perspective, 40.1% of Uruguay exports by value were delivered to Asian countries while 34% were sold to Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean importers. Uruguay shipped another 11.5% worth of goods to Europe.

Smaller percentages went to North America (8.9%), Africa (5.2%) then Oceania (0.2%) led by French Polynesia, Australia and New Zealand.

Given Uruguay’s population of 3.54 million people, its total $9.51 billion in 2021 exports translates to roughly $2,700 for every resident in the South American country. That dollar metric exceeds the average $2,000 per capita one year earlier in 2020.

Uruguay’s Top 10 Exports

The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Uruguayan global shipments during 2021. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Uruguay.

1. Meat: US$2.8 billion (29.3% of total exports)
2. Wood: $1 billion (11%)
3. Oil seeds: $993.3 million (10.4%)
4. Dairy, eggs, honey: $769 million (8.1%)
5. Cereals: $600.3 million (6.3%)
6. Mineral fuels including oil: $539.1 million (5.7%)
7. Plastics, plastic articles: $294.7 million (3.1%)
8. Milling products, malt, starches: $227.4 million (2.4%)
9. Live animals: $213.1 million (2.2%)
10. Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $211.2 million (2.2%)

Uruguay’s top 10 exports accounted for 80.7% of the overall value of its global shipments.

Mineral fuels including oil was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 396.7% from 2020 to 2021. The leading product category was propelled by Uruguay’s higher revenues from exports of mineral fuels-related goods led by electrical energy, refined petroleum oils and petroleum gases.

In second place for improving export sales was live animals which rose 87.3%.

Uruguay’s shipments of meat posted the third-fastest gain in value up by 54.7%.

The slowest year-over-year increase among Uruguay’s top 10 export categories was cereals which advanced 4.5%, albeit Uruguayan export sales of wheat and barley did advance.

From the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, Uruguay’s most valuable exported products in 2021 were frozen beef (21% of Uruguay’s total exports), soya beans (9.4%), rough wood (7.4%), concentrated or sweetened milk and cream (5.8%), electrical energy (5.5%), fresh or chilled beef (4.2%), rice (4.1%), red meat offal (2.4%), malt (also 2.4%) then live bovine cattle (2.2%).

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 63.8% since 2020)
2. Wood: $986.7 million (Up by 6.1%)
3. Oil seeds: $925.7 million (Up by 18.7%)
4. Dairy, eggs, honey: $738.9 million (Up by 14%)
5. Cereals: $546.1 million (Up by 5.8%)
6. Live animals: $207.7 million (Up by 90.7%)
7. Wool: $133.4 million (Up by 104.3%)
8. Milling products, malt, starches: $126.9 million (Down by -26.7%)
9. Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $102.9 million (Up by 75.3%)
10. Miscellaneous animal-origin products: $74.8 million (Up by 58.3%)

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 -$813 million trade deficit during 2021, up by 23.6% from the -$657.7 million in red ink one year earlier.

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. Machinery including computers: -US$981.8 million (Up by 36.8% since 2020)
2. Mineral fuels including oil: -$936.7 million (Up by 13.6%)
3. Vehicles: -$903.4 million (Up by 58.5%)
4. Electrical machinery, equipment: -$665.6 million (Up by 21.6%)
5. Fertilizers: -$430.8 million (Up by 91.6%)
6. Other chemical goods: -$321.7 million (Up by 42.3%)
7. Plastics, plastic articles: -$279.3 million (Up by 71%)
8. Iron, steel: -$213.7 million (Up by 100.1%)
9. Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefabricated buildings: -$182.2 million (Up by 38.8%)
10. Articles of iron or steel: -$164.9 million (Down by -1.6%)

Uruguay has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for machinery including computers, crude and refined petroleum oils as well as petroleum gases.

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 11.1% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2021 ($85.9 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 11.1% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2021 compares to 8.4% one year earlier in 2020. 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 9.4% for 2021, down from the average 10.35% in 2020 per statistics from the International Monetary Fund.

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 15, 2022

Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 15, 2022

International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on July 15, 2022

International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 15, 2022

Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 15, 2022

Richest Country Reports, Key Statistics Powering Global Wealth. Accessed on July 15, 2022

Wikipedia, Categories: Companies of Uruguay. Accessed on July 15, 2022

Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on July 15, 2022

Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on July 15, 2022

Wikipedia, Uruguay. Accessed on July 15, 2022

World’s Capital Cities, Capital Facts for Montevideo, Uruguay. Accessed on July 15, 2022