The world’s leading exported product category was electrical machinery and equipment, overtaking mineral fuels including oil one year earlier in 2022. The electrical machinery category accounted for 14.9% of overall worldwide sales for all products which totaled US$23.291 trillion for 2023.
Mineral fuels including oil generated 13.6% of the global exports total, ahead of the machinery including computers product category at 11% then exported vehicles taking an 8% share.
The most valuable exported products under the electrical machinery and equipment classification are electronic integrated circuits including parts (28.1% of electronics-related items), phone devices including smartphones (16.5%), semi-conductor components including diodes and transistors (4.9%), then insulated wire or cable (4.8%).
Best-selling exported goods considered electrical machinery and equipment are led by crude oil (40.8% of total revenues for mineral fuels-related items), refined petroleum oils (30.7%), petroleum gases (15.4%) and coal (6%).
Drilling down on all export product categories, those attracting the fastest-growing sales year over year were miscellaneous chemical goods (up 17.4% compared to 2022), gems and precious metals (up 15.4%) propelled by international sales of gold and jewelry, miscellaneous base metals (up 14.5%), ceramic products (up 14.4%), items made from stone, plaster, cement or asbestos (up 11.5%), then umbrellas and walking sticks (up 11.2%).
World’s Top Export Products
Below are the world’s top export product categories that generated the highest dollar values during 2023. Also shown is the change in value for each product group from 2022 to 2023.
| Rank | Product Category | Exports (US$) | 2022-3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Electrical machinery, equipment | $3,462,327,409,000 | -5.8% |
| 2 | Mineral fuels including oil | $3,173,112,562,000 | -3.4% |
| 3 | Machinery including computers | $2,565,683,072,000 | -23.1% |
| 4 | Vehicles | $1,873,167,095,000 | +1.1% |
| 5 | Gems, precious metals | $867,524,173,000 | +15.4% |
| 6 | Pharmaceuticals | $835,664,717,000 | -5.1% |
| 7 | Plastics, plastic articles | $723,987,524,000 | -1% |
| 8 | Optical, technical, medical apparatus | $675,958,496,000 | -12.1% |
| 9 | Organic chemicals | $495,905,523,000 | +3.7% |
| 10 | Iron and steel | $477,977,891,000 | -8.4% |
| 11 | Articles of iron or steel | $380,563,102,000 | -16.4% |
| 12 | Ores, slag and ash | $337,681,109,000 | -4.7% |
| 13 | Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefab buildings | $298,288,547,000 | +2.2% |
| 14 | Aircraft, spacecraft | $297,962,823,000 | -4.1% |
| 15 | Other chemical goods | $282,807,000,000 | +17.4% |
| 16 | Knit or crochet clothing, accessories | $267,403,500,000 | -14.2% |
| 17 | Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet) | $248,134,642,000 | -10.1% |
| 18 | Aluminum, aluminum articles | $239,750,740,000 | -4.2% |
| 19 | Rubber, rubber articles | $216,042,548,000 | -14.3% |
| 20 | Copper | $206,648,200,000 | -2.1% |
| 21 | Inorganic chemicals | $198,093,994,000 | -5.5% |
| 22 | Paper, paper items | $187,450,577,000 | -14.2% |
| 23 | Perfumes, cosmetics | $176,446,867,000 | -11.8% |
| 24 | Footwear | $176,327,319,000 | +3.8% |
| 25 | Cereals | $164,121,250,000 | -2.1% |
| 26 | Meat | $160,742,385,000 | -9% |
| 27 | Toys, games | $159,640,369,000 | -2.6% |
| 28 | Beverages, spirits, vinegar | $149,616,475,000 | -7.8% |
| 29 | Oil seeds | $149,259,527,000 | +1.1% |
| 30 | Wood | $148,806,612,000 | -2.3% |
| 31 | Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes | $147,395,552,000 | -19% |
| 32 | Fruits, nuts | $141,878,426,000 | -16.6% |
| 33 | Fish | $136,978,384,000 | +1.9% |
| 34 | Ships, boats | $130,880,848,000 | -7.1% |
| 35 | Food industry waste, animal fodder | $109,960,501,000 | +5.3% |
| 36 | Dairy, eggs, honey | $108,164,421,000 | +1.3% |
| 37 | Cereal/milk preparations | $105,296,995,000 | -5.2% |
| 38 | Miscellaneous food preparations | $104,383,472,000 | +8.1% |
| 39 | Leather/animal gut articles | $104,200,270,000 | +5% |
| 40 | Vegetables | $93,449,425,000 | +2.5% |
| 41 | Fertilizers | $92,940,766,000 | +9.6% |
| 42 | Glass and glassware | $90,993,088,000 | -31% |
| 43 | Tanning, dyes, paints, varnishes, ink | $85,790,803,000 | -2.6% |
| 44 | Vegetable/fruit/nut preparations | $84,026,805,000 | -7.5% |
| 45 | Miscellaneous base metal articles | $83,421,134,000 | +7.1% |
| 46 | Miscellaneous textiles, worn clothing | $76,707,757,000 | -3.9% |
| 47 | Soaps, wash preparations, lubricants, waxes | $76,002,773,000 | -10% |
| 48 | Base metal tools, cutlery | $74,510,527,000 | -2.9% |
| 49 | Salt, sulphur, stone, cement | $69,891,445,000 | -1.6% |
| 50 | Sugar, sugar confectionery | $67,146,112,000 | +6.1% |
| 51 | Ceramic products | $66,732,746,000 | +14.4% |
| 52 | Miscellaneous manufactured articles | $64,938,918,000 | -12.3% |
| 53 | Coffee, tea, spices | $63,229,786,000 | +0.2% |
| 54 | Cocoa | $61,306,271,000 | -7.6% |
| 55 | Stone, plaster, cement, asbestos articles | $61,149,055,000 | +11.5% |
| 56 | Meat/seafood preparations | $61,110,032,000 | -6.1% |
| 57 | Clocks , watches including parts | $59,813,585,000 | -2% |
| 58 | Tobacco, manufactured substitutes | $54,990,369,000 | +5.5% |
| 59 | Manmade filaments | $53,985,473,000 | +3.7% |
| 60 | Cotton | $51,774,066,000 | -8.8% |
| 61 | Woodpulp | $51,269,987,000 | -18.9% |
| 62 | Railways, streetcars | $45,083,815,000 | -12.1% |
| 63 | Nickel, nickel articles | $42,240,363,000 | -10.8% |
| 64 | Modified starches, glues, enzymes | $41,296,366,000 | -4.7% |
| 65 | Knitted or crocheted fabrics | $37,284,730,000 | -4.1% |
| 66 | Manmade staple fibers | $35,220,157,000 | -13.1% |
| 67 | Collector items, art, antiques | $35,043,489,000 | -10.3% |
| 68 | Books, newspapers, pictures | $33,930,415,000 | +3.2% |
| 69 | Felt, yarn, twine, ropes, cables | $30,073,534,000 | -13.8% |
| 70 | Milling products, malt, starches | $28,000,269,000 | -4.8% |
| 71 | Coated/laminated textile fabric | $27,644,174,000 | -1.2% |
| 72 | Live trees, plants, cut flowers | $25,754,265,000 | -5.5% |
| 73 | Live animals | $25,429,848,000 | +1% |
| 74 | Arms, ammunition | $24,811,521,000 | +7.4% |
| 75 | Other base metals | $21,774,241,000 | +14.5% |
| 76 | Zinc, zinc articles | $18,868,884,000 | -9.7% |
| 77 | Textile floor coverings | $16,721,229,000 | -18.6% |
| 78 | Raw hides, skins not furskins, leather | $16,220,016,000 | -3.5% |
| 79 | Headgear | $14,736,677,000 | -9.6% |
| 80 | Photo/cinematographic goods | $14,192,829,000 | -5% |
| 81 | Feathers, artificial flowers, hair | $13,411,895,000 | -6.9% |
| 82 | Special woven/tufted fabric, embroidery | $12,139,392,000 | -13% |
| 83 | Miscellaneous animal-origin products | $11,580,111,000 | -6.8% |
| 84 | Wool | $11,297,438,000 | -2.7% |
| 85 | Gums, resins, other vegetable saps | $9,593,373,000 | -4.9% |
| 86 | Lead , lead articles | $9,176,940,000 | -13.3% |
| 87 | Musical instruments | $8,062,293,000 | +7% |
| 88 | Tin, tin articles | $6,759,812,000 | -4.2% |
| 89 | Paper yarn, woven fabric | $6,339,040,000 | -21.1% |
| 90 | Explosives, pyrotechnics, matches | $5,962,137,000 | +1.6% |
| 91 | Umbrellas, walking-sticks | $4,236,228,000 | +11.2% |
| 92 | Furskins, artificial fur | $4,103,708,000 | -8.8% |
| 93 | Plaiting products, basketware.wickerwork | $2,942,783,000 | -5.7% |
| 94 | Cork, articles of cork | $2,233,761,000 | -14.3% |
| 95 | Vegetable plaiting materials | $1,809,572,000 | +0.6% |
| 96 | Silk | $1,760,645,000 | +7.1% |
In total, the top 20 product groups accounted for over three-quarters (77%) of global exports in 2023. The 20 top export product categories increased by an average 24% in 2023 compared to 5 years earlier in 2019, an increase just below the 24.1% benchmark gain over 5 years for all export product categories.
From 2022 to 2023, the average sales for the top 20 product groups declined by -4.4% which is less than the benchmark -5.8% year-over-year retreat for all categories.
Widening our scope to the latest 5-year period, the greatest percentage sales increases were recorded by sugar and sugar confectionery (up 67.5% from 2019), vegetable plaiting materials (up 66.7%), animal or vegetable fats, oils and waxes (up 66%), nickel both as material and items made from nickel (up 57.5%), fertilizers (also up 57.5%), inorganic chemicals (up 56.7%) then oil seeds (up 54.6%) product categories.
Leading the declining product categories since 2019 were furskins and artificial fur (down -56%), raw hides and skins other than furskins (down -16.7%), the capital-intensive aircraft and spacecraft category (down -11.8%), silk (down -11.7%) than wool-related category (down -10.8%).
See also Electronic Circuit Component Exports by Country, Crude Oil Exports by Country, Car Exports by Country Plus Average Prices Per Car and Cellphone Exports by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, Field Listing: Exports, Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed on August 27, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on August 27, 2024