The landlocked nation bordered to its west by Cameroon, both Congo republics, South Sudan, Chad, Sudan, and South Sudan, exported goods valued at US$89.2 million in 2021.

This predicted monetary amount is a -55.4% drop from $199.9 million in 2017, which was five years ago.

Overall sales of commodities exported from the Central African Republic increased by 117.3% year over year to $41 million in 2020.

The top 5 most valuable exports from the country in 2021 included heavy machinery, sawn wood, unmounted diamonds, rough wood, unwrought gold, and unwrought gold. Together, these top exports account for just over four in five (87.3%) of all the money the nation will earn from exports in 2021. A portfolio of exported goods that is that heavily concentrated would explain the high percentage.

Central African Republic’s major trading partners

According to the most recent data available, importers in the United Arab Emirates (24.3% of the global total), Sweden (15.2%), France (10.2%), Switzerland (8%), Uganda (7%), mainland China (6.9%), Cameroon (4%), Benin (3.6%), Chad (2.9%), Vietnam (2.73%), Burkina Faso (2.72%), and Congo (2.6%) purchased 90.1% of the products exported from the Central African Republic.

In terms of the entire continent, 39% of the nation’s exports by value were sent to European nations, while 35.6% were sold to Asian importers. A further 25.3% of goods from the Central African Republic were exported to other African countries.

Smaller amounts went to Latin America (0.01%), which includes the Caribbean, notably the Turk and Caicos Islands, and North America’s United States (0.1%).

With a population of 4.92 million, the nation’s total exports of $89.2 million in 2021 equate to around $20 for each citizen of the African nation. That dollar value exceeds the $10 per capita average from 2020, which is one year earlier.

Central African republic’s top 10 exports

The export product categories listed below represent the 2021 global shipments from Central Africa with the largest dollar values. Additionally displayed is the percentage of the country’s exports that each export category accounts for.

• Wood: US$54.4 million (61% of total exports)
• Gems, precious metals: $22.3 million (25%)
• Machinery including computers: $2.8 million (3.2%)
• Vehicles: $2.1 million (2.4%)
• Cotton: $878,000 (1%)
• Beverages, spirits, vinegar: $868,000 (1%)
• Oil seeds: $852,000 (1%)
• Electrical machinery, and equipment: $751,000 (0.8%)
• Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $426,000 (0.5%)
• Copper: $287,000 (0.3%)

The top 10 exports from the Central African Republic accounted for 98.5% of the total value of its international shipments.

96% of the total value of the nation’s international shipments was made up of its top 10 exports.

Among the top 10 export categories, copper saw the highest growth, increasing by 9,467% between 2020 and 2021.

Beverages, spirits, and vinegar came in second for increasing export sales with an 8,580% increase.

Shipments of oil seeds from the Central African Republic experienced the third-fastest increase in value, rising by 4,912%.

Vehicles, with a -79.1% year-over-year fall, were the largest export category in the Central African Republic.

Rough wood accounted for 48.8% of the Central African Republic’s total export value in 2021 at the more specific four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level. Unwrought gold came in second with 19.2% of the market, followed by sawn wood (11.9%), unset diamonds (5.7%), bulldozers and excavators (1.6%), uncombed cotton (1%), and alcoholic beverages (also 1%).

Products with the highest trade surpluses in the Central African Republic

The shipments of the following goods from Central Africa show positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. According to Investopedia, net exports are calculated as total exports less total imports for a certain nation.

In a word, net exports are the difference between domestic spending on goods and services and domestic expenditure on goods and services from abroad.

• Gems, precious metals: US$17 million (Up by 4.2% since 2020)
• Wood: US$54.2 million (Up by 791.1% since 2020)
• Gems, precious metals: $21.8 million (Up by 27.9%)
• Cotton: $876,000 (Reversing a -$233,000 deficit)
• Oil seeds: $702,000 (Down by -401.3%)

• Collector items, art, antiques: $149,000 (2020 data unavailable)
• $126,000 for feathers, artificial flowers, and hair (2020 data unavailable)
• Woodpulp: $39,000 (2020 data unavailable)

• $10,000 for ores, slag, and ash (2020 data unavailable)
• Vegetable plaiting materials
• $1,000 (2020 data unavailable)