That dollar amount results from a 48.3% acceleration from $855.4 million five years earlier in 2020.
Year over year, the value of Nepalese exports slowed to a 2.4% gain compared to $1.24 billion starting from 2023.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2024, the Nepalese rupee weakened by -11.5% against the US dollar since 2020 and diluted by -1.3% from 2023 to 2024. Nepal’s weaker local currency made Nepalese exports paid for starting from stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers.
Nepal’s Major Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data from 2022 shows that 94.9% of products exported from Nepal were bought by importers in: India (71.9% of the Nepalese total), United States of America (11.3%), Germany (2.5%), Türkiye (2%), United Kingdom (1.8%), France (1%), Australia (0.83%), Japan (0.8%), Canada (0.78%), Italy (0.76%), Netherlands (0.6%) and Denmark (0.55%).
From a continental perspective, 77.5% of Nepal’s exports by value was delivered to Asia countries while 12.1% was sold to importers in North America. Nepal shipped another 9.2% worth of goods to Europe.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in Oceania (0.9%) led by Australia and New Zealand, Africa (0.2%), then Latin America (0.1%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
Given Nepal’s population of 31.3 million people, its total $1.27 billion in 2024 exports translates to roughly $41 for every resident in the South Asian country. That dollar metric surpasses the average $40 per capita one year earlier in 2023.
Nepal’s Top 10 Exports
At the 2-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, the following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Nepalese global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Nepal.
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: US$155.2 million (12.2% of total exports)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $106.8 million (8.4%)
- Iron, steel: $102.7 million (8.1%)
- Textile floor coverings: $98.6 million (7.8%)
- Manmade staple fibers: $92.9 million (7.3%)
- Wood: $75.1 million (5.9%)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $64.3 million (5.1%)
- Food industry waste, animal fodder: $49.5 million (3.9%)
- Clothing, accessories (not knit or crochet): $46.7 million (3.7%)
- Miscellaneous textiles, worn clothing: $46 million (3.6%)
Nepal’s top 10 exports generated about two-thirds (66%) of the overall value of its global shipments.
Animal or vegetable fats, oils and waxes represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 85.9% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for Nepal’s improving export sales was wood via a 39.5% advance.
Nepal’s shipments of unknitted or non-crocheted clothing and accessories posted the remaining gain in value, up by 0.2%.
The leading decliner among Nepal’s top 10 export categories was miscellaneous textiles and worn clothing, recording a -13.2% year-over-year drop.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level, soya-bean oil represents Nepal’s most valuable exported product accounting for 7.5% of the country’s total. In second place were knotted textile floor coverings including carpets (6.7%) trailed by yarn made from synthetic staple fibers (6.6%), plated or coated flat-rolled iron or non-alloy steel products (6.1%), nutmeg and cardamoms (5%), non-alcoholic drinks excluding water (4.9%), laminated wood (4.8%), woven fabrics (2.9%), palm oil (2.7%), then tea including flavored varieties (2.6%).
The top 10 exports at the more detailed HTS level represent about half (49.7%) of Nepalese export sales.
Products Generating Nepal’s Largest Trade Surpluses
The following types of Nepalese 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.
- Textile floor coverings: US$93.1 million (Down by -13.5% since 2023)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $90.4 million (Up by 180.9%)
- Wood: $48.8 million (Up by 247.8%)
- Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $42 million (Up by 57.8%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $40 million (Up by 9.1%)
- Vegetable plaiting materials: $25.4 million (Up by 6.6%)
- Paper yarn, woven fabric: $23.3 million (Up by 8.2%)
- Miscellaneous textiles, worn clothing: $17.1 million (Down by -28.6%)
- Lead: $7.1 million (Up by 3.1%)
- Collector items, art, antiques: $3.1 million (Down by -33.7%)
Nepal has highly positive net exports in the international trade of carpets and other textile floor coverings. In turn, these cashflows indicate Nepal’s strong competitive advantages under the textile floor coverings product categories.
Products Causing Nepal’s Worst Trade Deficits
Overall, Nepal incurred -US$9.1 billion trade deficit for 2024, down by -0.3% compared to -$9.12 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2023.
Below are exports from Nepal that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Nepal’s goods trail Nepalese importer spending on foreign products.
- Mineral fuels including oil: -US$2.2 billion (Down by -4.3% since 2023)
- Machinery including computers: -$818 million (Up by 16.3%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$767.5 million (Up by 3.1%)
- Vehicles : -$658 million (Up by 35.1%)
- Iron, steel: -$628.9 million (Down by -24.1%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$339 million (Up by 14.3%)
- Cereals: -$321.5 million (Down by -12.2%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$257.2 million (Down by -9.3%)
- Vegetables: -$213.2 million (Up by 10.2%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$178.8 million (Up by 7.2%)
Nepal has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the mineral fuels-related category. Historically, loss leaders among these energy products are refined petroleum oils and petroleum gases.
Nepal’s Export Companies
Not one Nepalese corporation ranks among the Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia lists exports-related companies from Nepal. Selected examples are shown below.
- Chaudhary Group (conglomerate)
- Citizens Bank International (commercial bank)
- Deurali-Janta Pharmaceuticals (drugs and medicines)
- Giribandhu Tea Estate (beverages)
- Hulas Motors (vehicles)
- IME Group (conglomerate)
- Krishna Pauroti (bakery)
- Nepal Oil Corporation (oil, gas)
From a macroeconomic perspective, Nepal’s exported goods in 2024 represent 0.8% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product on a Purchasing Power Parity basis ($169.1 billion), same as 0.8% for 2023. Those percentages suggest Nepal is depending less on international trade compared to other economic activities, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Nepal’s unemployment rate averaged 10.71% for 2024, up from an average 10.63% jobless rate one year earlier in 2023 according to metrics from Statista.
Nepal’s capital city is Kathmandu.
See also Nepal’s Top 10 Imports, Nepal’s Top Trading Partners, India’s Top Trading Partners, Palm Oil Exports by Country and Top Cardamoms Exports & Imports by Country Plus Average Prices
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on July 15, 2025
EXCHANGE-RATES.org, Nepalese Rupee (NPR) To US Dollar (USD) Exchange Rate History. Accessed on July 15, 2025
Forbes, Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 15, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Databases (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on July 15, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 15, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 15, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Nepal. Accessed on July 15, 2025
Wikipedia, Nepal. Accessed on July 15, 2025