That estimated dollar amount reflects a 40.4% increase since 2018 when Turkmenistan’s exports totaled $10.1 billion.
Year over year, the value of products exported from Turkmenistan accelerated by 354.5% compared to $3.13 billion during 2021.
Turkmenistan’s 3 biggest exported products by sales in 2022 are petroleum gases, refined petroleum oils, and nitrogenous fertilizers. Collectively, that trio of leading exports represents 89.4% of the overall revenues from the country’s total shipments during 2022. 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 95.7% of products exported from Turkmenistan were bought by importers in: mainland China (72.5% of the Turkmen total), Türkiye (6.8%), Uzbekistan (5.1%), Azerbaijan (3.6%), Morocco (1.5%), Ukraine (1.3%), Singapore (1.1%), Georgia (1.1%), Argentina (0.74%), Kazakhstan (0.69%), India (0.64%) and Kyrgyzstan (0.5%).
From a continental perspective, 92.8% of Turkmenistan’s exports by value was delivered to fellow Asian countries while 3.9% was sold to importers in Europe.
Tinier percentages went to customers in Africa (1.6%), Latin America (1.4%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean then buyers in North America (0.35%).
Given Turkmenistan’s population of 6.24 million people, its total $14.2 billion in 2022 exports translates to roughly $2,300 for every resident in the Central Asian nation. That dollar metric exceeds the average $500 per capita one year earlier in 2021.
Turkmenistan’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Turkmen global shipments during 2022. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Turkmenistan.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$12.7 billion (89.5% of total exports)
- Fertilizers: $693.3 million (4.9%)
- Cotton: $259.7 million (1.8%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $115.9 million (0.8%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $107.2 million (0.8%)
- Copper: $50 million (0.4%)
- Vegetables: $46.5 million (0.3%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $37.9 million (0.3%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: $30.1 million (0.2%)
- Gums, resins, other vegetable saps: $22.2 million (0.2%)
Turkmenistan’s top 10 exports accounted for 99.1% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Aircraft and spacecraft was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 158,079% from 2021 to 2022.
In second place for improving export sales was mineral fuels including oil via a 589.4% advance, led by petroleum gases, crude oil and refined petroleum oils.
Turkmenistan’s shipments of inorganic chemicals posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 135.2%.
The leading decliner among Turkmenistan’s top 10 export categories was vegetables, pulled down by a -36.4% year-over-year reduction.
From the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, petroleum gases represent Turkmenistan’s most valuable exported product representing 75.1% of the country’s total. In second place were refined petroleum oils (9.7%) trailed by nitrogenous fertilizers (4.6%), crude oil (3.1%), electrical energy (1.2%), cotton-heavy yarn (1%), non-sublimed sulphur (0.7%), ethylene polymers (0.5%), uncarded and uncombed cotton (0.4%), refined copper plus unwrought alloys (also 0.4%).
Products Driving Turkmenistan’s Best Trade Surpluses
Overall Turkmenistan achieved a US$10.7 billion trade surplus for 2022, reversing a -1.5 billion trade deficit one year earlier in 2021.
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$12.7 billion (Up by 604.9% since 2021)
- Fertilizers: $630.5 million (Up by 130%)
- Cotton: $257.7 million (Down by -22.6%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $79.5 million (Up by 9.1%)
- Copper: $47.1 million (Down by -23.4%)
- Vegetables: $42.3 million (Down by -17.1%)
- Gums, resins, other vegetable saps: $21.8 million (Up by 81.9%)
- Miscellaneous textiles, worn clothing: $13.9 million (Down by -59.5%)
- Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather: $8.6 million (Up by 9.1%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $8.4 million (Reversing a -$2.7 million deficit)
Turkmenistan has 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$580.3 million (Down by -10.5% since 2021)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$521.8 million (Up by 7%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$216.8 million (Down by -22.1%)
- Vehicles: -$203.8 million (Down by -26.9%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$135.1 million (Down by -12.2%)
- Cereals: -$130.8 million (Up by 74.3%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefabricated buildings: -$91.9 million (Down by -4.4%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$79.9 million (Down by -25.6%)
- Other chemical goods: -$76.2 million (Down by -6.3%)
- Rubber, rubber articles: -$66.5 million (Down by -14.3%)
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 12% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2022 ($118.7 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 12% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2022 compares to 2.8% for 2021. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing 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 5.02% unemployment rate for 2022, up from an average 4.79% in 2021.
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 October 13, 2023
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on October 13, 2023
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on October 13, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on October 13, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on October 13, 2023
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on October 13, 2023
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Turkmenistan. Accessed on October 13, 2023
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on October 13, 2023
Wikipedia, Turkmenistan. Accessed on October 13, 2023