That dollar amount results from a 5.5% expansion from $5.2 billion 5 years earlier during 2019.
Year over year, the overall value of Botswanan exports fell by -33.8% compared to $8.3 billion starting from 2022.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2023, the Botswana pula depreciated by -26.4% against the US dollar since 2019 and declined up by -9.9% from 2022 to 2023. Botswana’s weaker local currency makes its exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers.
Botswana’s 3 most valuable exported products are unmounted and unset diamonds, copper ores and concentrates, then insulated wire or cable. Collectively, those top exported products represent 90.8% of the total sales for Botswanan exports during 2023. Such a high percentage indicates an intensely concentrated portfolio of international trade commodities.
Botswana’s Major Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 96.6% of products exported from Botswana was bought by importers in: United Arab Emirates (29.8% of the Botswanan total), Belgium (17.9%), India (12.3%), South Africa (11.9%), mainland China (6.4%), Hong Kong (5.9%), Israel (3.9%), Australia (2.2%), United States of America (2%), Singapore (1.8%), Zimbabwe (1.5%) and Namibia (1.1%).
From a continental perspective, 61.6% of Botswana’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 18.1% was sold to importers in Europe. Botswana shipped another 15.5% worth of goods to customers in fellow African nations.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in Oceania Australia and New Zealand only (2.2%), North America (2.1%) then Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean (0.6%).
Given Botswana’s population of 2.68 million people, its total $5.5 billion in 2023 exports translates to about $2,100 for every resident in the southern African country. That dollar metric lags the average $3,100 per capita one year earlier during 2022.
Botswana’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Batswana global shipments during 2023. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Botswana.
- Gems, precious metals: US$4.4 billion (79.2% of total exports)
- Ores, slag, ash: $507.9 million (9.2%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: $181.4 million (3.3%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $56.5 million (1%)
- Live animals: $45.7 million (0.8%)
- Machinery including computers: $40.6 million (0.7%)
- Mineral fuels including oil: $36.7 million (0.7%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $34 million (0.6%)
- Vehicles: $27.4 million (0.5%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $25.2 million (0.5%)
Botswana’s top 10 exports accounted for 96.6% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Ores, slag and ash was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 57.1% from 2022 to 2023.
In second place for improving export sales was plastics, both as materials and items made from plastic, propelled by a 16.6% advance.
Botswana’s shipments of electrical machinery and equipment posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 8%.
The leading decliner among Botswana’s top 10 export categories was live animals, pulled down by a -52.5% year-over-year drop.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, unmounted and unset diamonds represent Botswana’s most valuable exported product at 78.8% of the country’s total. In second place was copper ores and concentrates (9.2%) trailed by insulated wire or cable (2.8%), carbonates and percarbonates (1%), live bovine cattle (0.8%), coal including solid fuels made from coal (0.6%), salts and pure sodium chloride (0.5%), frozen beef (0.4%), plastic tubes, pipes and fittings (0.4%), then unwrought gold (also 0.4%).
Products Driving Botswana’s Best Trade Surpluses
The following types of Botswanan 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.
- Gems, precious metals: US$3.4 billion (Down by -32.6% since 2022)
- Ores, slag, ash: $507.1 million (Up by 57.5%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $42.5 million (Up by 5.4%)
- Live animals: $42.5 million (Down by -54.3%)
- Meat: $14.9 million (Up by 1,313%)
- Nickel: $4.4 million (Up by 75.2%)
- Railways, streetcars: $2.6 million (Reversing a -$1.6 million deficit)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $1.2 million (Down by -27.7%)
- Woodpulp: $684,000 (Down by -44%)
- Other base metals: $177,000 (Down by -94.3%)
Botswana has highly positive net exports in the international trade of diamonds and, to a lesser extent, gold. In turn, these cashflows indicate Botswana’s strong competitive advantages under the gems and precious metals category.
Products Causing Botswana’s Worst Trade Deficits
Botswana generated an overall -US$914.8 million trade deficit for 2023, reversing a $212.1 million surplus one year earlier in 2022.
Below are exports from Botswana that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Botswana’s goods trail Batswana imports.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$1.3 billion (Down by -10.2% since 2022)
- Machinery including computers: -$500.7 million (Down by -6.9%)
- Vehicles: -$428.1 million (Up by 1.1%)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: -$277.5 million (Up by 71.7%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$162.6 million (Down by -26.5%)
- Cereals: -$154.6 million (Down by -20.9%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$126.4 million (Down by -5.6%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$125.2 million (Down by -19.9%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$120.1 million (Down by -16.7%)
- Iron, steel: -$98.6 million (Up by 26.2%)
Botswana has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the mineral fuels including oil category, particularly for refined petroleum oils.
Examples of Botswana’s Export Companies
No Batswana corporations rank among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia lists exports-related companies from Botswana. Selected examples are shown below:
- Botswana Meat Commission (food)
- Botswana Railways (industrial transportation)
- Botswana Telecommunications Corp. (telecommunications)
- Debswana (diamonds, coal)
- MASCOM (mobile phones)
In macroeconomic terms, Botswana’s total exported goods represent 10.7% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2023 ($51.5 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 10.7% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2023 compares to 17.1% for 2022. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Botswana’s total economic performance, albeit based on a relatively short timeframe.
Another key indicator of an economy’s health is the unemployment rate. Botswana’s unemployment rate averaged 25.9% for 2023, up from a 25.4% jobless rate for 2022 according to Trading Economics metrics.
Botswana’s capital city is Gaborone, nicknamed “Gabs” and named after Chief Gaborone of the native Tlôkwa tribe.
See also Diamond Exports by Country, Belgium’s Top 10 Exports and Diamond Imports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on October 26, 2024
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on October 26, 2024
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on October 26, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on October 26, 2024
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on October 26, 2024
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on October 26, 2024
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Botswana. Accessed on October 26, 2024
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on October 26, 2024