Commerce international

In Africa, primary goods (defined as everything except manufactured products) accounted for 76.8% of merchandise exports in 2024, with fuels making up 33.6% of this. Developing Americas relied less on primary goods exports (52.6%) and Developing Asia and Oceania much less (25.7%). Among the three developing regions, developing Asia and Oceania recorded the lowest proportion of food exports (5.7%), far behind developing America (24.5%) and developing Africa (14.8%).

In 2024, the rise in the value of world merchandise exports was driven by positive growth in all product groups except fuels. Agricultural raw materials recorded the highest increase of 7.8%, followed by a 6.1% growth in all food items. Ores, metals, precious stones and non-monetary gold improved by 5.8% and manufactured goods by 4.2%. In contrast, Fuels declined by 5.6%. 

In 2024, developing economies in Asia and Oceania recorded a merchandise trade surplus of 12% of the value of exports, driven by high exports of manufactured goods. For the group of developing economies of the Americas, positive trade balances in food, agricultural raw materials, and ores, metals, precious stones and non-monetary gold largely offset the negative trade balance in manufacturing, leading to a trade deficit of 0.7%. However, in Africa, high imports of manufactured products and a negative balance in food and agricultural raw materials could not be offset by trade surpluses in fuels and in ores, metals, precious stones and non-monetary gold, resulting in a negative 16% trade balance.