International trade

In Africa, primary goods (defined as goods other than manufactured products) accounted for 76.7% of merchandise exports in 2025, of which fuels made up 29.5 percentage points. Developing economies in the Americas relied less on primary goods exports (51.5%) than African, developing economies in Asia and Oceania even less than American (25.5%). Among the three developing regions, developing Asia and Oceania recorded by far the lowest proportion of food exports (5.3%).

In 2025, the rise in the value of world merchandise exports was driven by ample growth in all commodity groups except fuels. A particularly strong increase was recorded for exports of ores, metals, precious stones and non-monetary gold, gaining 24.9%. Exports of fuels fell by 7%.

In 2025, developing economies in Asia and Oceania recorded a merchandise trade surplus of 16.1% 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 global trade deficit of 0.3%. However, in Africa, high imports of manufactured products and a negative balance in food items could not be offset by trade surpluses in fuels, in agricultural raw materials and in ores, metals, precious stones and non-monetary gold, resulting in a negative 14.1% trade deficit.