The impact of Covid 19 in global trade has been severe both in sectors and regions. It is reasonable to expect a negative growth rate of between -14% and -17% for 2020.

World’s Top Exports Report Card for Products and Countries

June 23, 2020 by Daniel Workman

Worldwide export sales were US$18.740 trillion in 2019 based on International Trade Centre statistics (as of May 20, 2020). That global export metric reflects a 13.4% increase since 2015. Year-over-year, worldwide export sales fell in value by -3.7% from 2018 to 2019.

In this analysis, we look at the latest statistics surrounding the world’s top exports to identify the products that most heavily galvanized international sales as well as looking the most successful exporting countries.

Note that the product categories are at the four-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level in tariff manuals. This level of granularity helps analysts to better spot microeconomic trends and opportunities around the globe.

World’s Top Exports Report Card for Products

Below are the 20 export products that attracted the highest dollar value in sales during 2019. Since 2018, crude oil has overtaken cars for the number one position in terms of overall exports by value.

1. Crude oil: US$870.1 billion (down -8.6% from 2018)
2. Cars: $758.4 billion (down -2.4%)
3. Integrated circuits/microassemblies: $720.5 billion (up 1.8%)
4. Processed petroleum oils: $679.3 billion (down -12.9%)
5. Phone system devices including smartphones: $574.6 billion (down -5%)
6. Automobile parts/accessories: $392.5 billion (down -5.6%)
7. Medication mixes in dosage: $380.2 billion (up 4.9%)
8. Computers, optical readers: $368.4 billion (down -4.2%)
9. Gold (unwrought): $295.4 billion (down -3.2%)
10. Petroleum gases: $267.6 billion (down -10.6%)
11. Blood fractions (including antisera): $210.5 billion (up 10.6%)
12. Turbo-jets: $143.4 billion (up 7.8%)
13. Trucks: $137.6 billion (down -1.6%)
14. Electro-medical equipment (e.g. xrays): $136.1 billion (up 5.8%)
15. Computer parts, accessories: $128.4 billion (down -11.1%)
16. Insulated wire/cable: $128.1 billion (down -3.2%)
17. Iron ores, concentrates: $122.5 billion (up 30.3%)
18. Coal, solid fuels made from coal: $118.3 billion (down -6.8%)
19. Solar power diodes/semi-conductors: $115.4 billion (up 1.2%)
20. Aircraft, spacecraft: $112.1 billion (up 1.6%)
21. Jewelry: $108.2 billion (down -2.3%)

World’s Top Exports Report Card for Countries

Below are the 20 countries that earned the highest total dollar amounts in export sales for 2019. Shown within parenthesis is whether the value of each country’s exports increased or declined compared to 2018 metrics.

1. China: $2.499 trillion (up 0.2% from 2018)
2. United States: $1.645 trillion (down -1.2%)
3. Germany: $1.486 trillion (down -4.5%)
4. Netherlands: $721.3 billion (down -0.8%)
5. Japan: $705.8 billion (down -4.4%)
6. France: $555.1 billion (down -2.5%)
7. South Korea: $542.3 billion (down -10.4%)
8. Italy: $541.7 billion (down -1.5%)
9. Hong Kong: $535.7 billion (down -5.9%)
10. Mexico: $472.3 billion (up 4.7%)
11. United Kingdom: $467.5 billion (down -4.8%)
12. Belgium: $452.0 billion (down -3.5%)
13. Canada: $446.6 billion (down -0.9%)
14. Russia: $422.8 billion (down -5.9%)
15. Singapore: $390.4 billion (down -5.3%)
16. Spain: $339.2 billion (down -2.2%)
17. Taiwan: $329.5 billion (down -1.4%)
18. India: $322.8 billion (down -0.4%)
19. Switzerland: $314.1 billion (up 1.1%)
20. Vietnam: $304.3 billion (up 24.9%)

By value, the above 20 countries shipped almost three-quarters (72%) of total exported products during 2019.

Taken from: