A South Asian island country in the Indian Ocean, the Republic of Maldives shipped US$162.1 million worth of exported products around the globe in 2023.

That dollar amount reflects a 2.6% increase from $158 million 5 years earlier in 2019.

Year over year, the value of Maldivian exported goods rose 2.3% compared to $158.4 million starting from 2022.

Based on the average exchange rate for 2023, the Maldivian rufiyaa appreciated by 0.03% against the US dollar since 2019 but depreciated by -0.001% from 2022 to 2023. Maldives’ weaker local currency compared to 2022 makes its exports paid for in stronger US dollars slightly less expensive for international buyers.

Maldives’ Major Trading Partners

The latest available country-specific data shows that 92.5% of products exported from Maldives was bought by importers in: Thailand (53.9% of Maldives’ total), United Kingdom (13.7%), Germany (7.8%), France (3.4%), India (3.2%), Bangladesh (2%), Italy (1.9%), Vietnam (1.8%), Japan (1.4%), United States of America (1.3%), Switzerland (1.06%) and Netherlands (0.97%).

From a continental perspective, 66.7% of Maldives’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 30.6% was sold to importers located in Europe.

Smaller percentages went to buyers in North America (1.3%), Africa (1.2%) and Latin America (0.2%) plus the Caribbean.

Given Maldives’ population of 397,000 people according to data from the International Monetary Fund, its total $162.1 million in 2023 exports translates to roughly $410 for every resident on the South Asian island. That dollar metric is slightly higher than the average $405 per capita one year earlier for 2022.

Maldives’ Top 10 Exports

The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Maldivian global shipments during 2023 at the 2-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from the Maldives.

1. Fish: US$114.3 million (70.6% of total exports)
2. Meat/seafood preparations: $38.7 million (23.9%)
3. Iron, steel: $3.4 million (2.1%)
4. Food industry waste, animal fodder: $3.4 million (2.1%)
5. Copper: $1.3 million (0.8%)
6. Mineral fuels including oil: $257,000 (0.2%)
7. Electrical machinery, equipment: $163,000 (0.1%)
8. Plastics, plastic articles: $155,000 (0.1%)
9. Aluminum: $129,000 (0.1%)
10. Lead: $80,000 (0.05%)

Maldives’ top 10 export categories accounted for 99.96% of the overall value of its global shipments.

Copper was the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 106.3% from 2022 to 2023.

In second place for improving export sales was meat or seafood preparations via a 16.9% advance.

Maldives’ shipments of mineral fuels including oil posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 12.7%.

The leading decliner among Maldives’s top 10 export categories was electrical machinery and equipment, dragged down by a -61.9% year-over-year slowdown.

Drilling down to the more granular four-digit HTS codes, frozen whole fish represents Maldives’ most valuable exported product at over half (57.7%) of overall Maldivian international sales. In second place were preserved or prepared fish including caviar (23.9%), fish fillets and pieces (7.2%), whole fresh fish (2.8%), iron or steel scrap (2.1%), inedible meat flour (also 2.1%), dried, salted or smoked fish (1.8%), aquatic invertebrates (0.8%), flours from aquatic invertebrates (0.5%), then live fish (0.4%).

Products Creating Maldives’ Best Trade Surpluses

The following types of Maldivian 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. Fish: US$81.6 million (Down by -2.3% since 2022)
2. Meat/seafood preparations: $26.1 million (Up by 25.7%)
3. Food industry waste, animal fodder: $2.3 million (Down by -11.1%)
4. Woodpulp: $16,000 (Up by 166.7%)

The Maldives posted highly positive net exports in the international trade of fish and related products. In turn, these cashflows indicate strong Maldivian competitive advantages for fish–one of the 3 food-related categories under which the Maldives ran a product surplus.

Products Causing Maldives’ Worst Trade Deficits

The Maldives incurred -US$3.33 billion trade deficit for 2023, reducing by -1.1% from -$3.34 billion in red ink one year earlier in 2022.

Below are exports from the Maldives that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on goods from home country Maldives trail Maldivian importer spending on foreign products.

1. Mineral fuels including oil: -US$760.1 million (Down by -8.9% since 2022)
2. Machinery including computers: -$334.1 million (Up by 6.5%)
3. Electrical machinery, equipment: -$273.2 million (Down by -4.2%)
4. Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: -$151.3 million (Up by 39.1%)
5. Articles of iron or steel: -$111.9 million (Up by 3.4%)
6. Aircraft, spacecraft: -$101.2 million (Down by -9.1%)
7. Dairy, eggs, honey: -$96.2 million (Up by 8.5%)
8. Meat: -$85.6 million (Down by -11.8%)
9. Plastics, plastic articles: -$85.4 million (Down by -15.1%)
10. Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefab buildings: -$84.9 million (Down by -7%)

The Maldives has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the mineral fuels including oil product category, particularly for refined petroleum oils and petroleum gases.

Maldivian Export Companies

Not one Maldivian corporation ranks on the Forbes Global 2000 list.

Wikipedia lists companies from the Maldives that are involved in businesses that intersect with international trade. Selected examples are shown below.

• Bank of Maldives Plc (branch bank)
• Dhiraagu (telecommunications)
• Maldivian, Island Aviation Services division (airliner)
• Ooredoo Maldives (mobile phone operator)
• Raajjé Online (internet service provider)

 
In macroeconomic terms, Maldives’ total exported goods represent 1.3% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2023 ($12.9 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 1.3% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2023 compares to 1.2% for 2022. Those percentages suggest a modestly increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Maldives’ total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.

Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Maldives’ unemployment rate averaged 4.2% for 2023, down from an average 4.4% in 2022 according to Trading Economics metrics.

Malé is the capital city for the Maldives.

See also Thailand’s Top 10 Exports, Sri Lanka’s Top 10 Exports, Germany’s Top Trading Partners, India’s Top Trading Partners

Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook South Asia: Maldives. Accessed on November 18, 2024

Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on November 18, 2024

International Monetary Fund, Exchange Rates selected indicators (Domestic Currency per U.S. dollar, period average). Accessed on November 18, 2024

International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on November 18, 2024

International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on November 18, 2024

Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on November 18, 2024

Wikipedia, Flag of Maldives. Accessed on November 18, 2024

Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on November 18, 2024

Wikipedia, List of Companies of the Maldives. Accessed on November 18, 2024

Wikipedia, Maldives. Accessed on November 18, 2024

Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on November 18, 2024