Africa's Main Exports by Category From 2001 to 2023, Chart

Key figures

Fuels and related products are Africa’s largest export, worth $247 billion in 2023, up from $70 billion in 2001.
Precious metals and stones ($127 billion) and other minerals and metals ($107 billion) come next.
Together, fuels, minerals and metals made up 68% of exports in 2023, about $480 billion.
Agriculture and food exports were worth $84 billion, machinery and transport $61 billion and other manufactured goods $78 billion.
The chart marks dips in exports at the 2008 global financial crisis and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

All figures are from the graphic, which cites WTO and UN Comtrade data.

Africa’s exports by category, 2001 and 2023, in text

Title: Evolution of Africa’s Export Composition. Subtitle: Fuels, Minerals, and Metals Accounting for 68% ($480 Billion) of Exports in 2023. The chart is a streamgraph of six export categories from 2001 to 2023, labelled “Exports (Billion $)”, with values printed only for the first and last years. Annotations: “2008, Global Financial Crisis” and “2020, COVID-19 Pandemic”.

Category	2001 (billion $)	2023 (billion $)	Share of 2023 total (our arithmetic)	Growth 2001 to 2023 (our arithmetic)
Fuels and Products	70	247	35%	3.5x
Precious Metals and Stones	17	127	18%	7.5x
Minerals and Metals	13	107	15%	8.2x
Agriculture and Food	19	84	12%	4.4x
Machinery and Transportation	10	61	9%	6.1x
Other Manufactured Goods	27	78	11%	2.9x
Total (our sum)	156	704	100%	4.5x

Footer: “Sources of Primary Data: WTO, Comtrade”. www.econovis.net, @econovisuals and the Econovis logo.

Africa’s main exports are raw materials

Econovis’s post on the chart puts Africa’s exports at $700 billion in 2023, with fuels, minerals and metals forming the backbone at $480 billion, or 68% [1]. It breaks that down as fuels and related products at $247 billion (35%), precious metals and stones at $127 billion (18%) and other minerals and metals at $107 billion (15%), and says this “export structure underscores Africa’s heavy reliance on natural resources” [1].

A second Econovis post adds agriculture and food, $84 billion or 12% of the total, and counts 80% of Africa’s 2023 exports as raw materials and commodities [2]. It notes that this dependence makes the value of the continent’s exports highly sensitive to swings in global commodity prices [2].

How the mix changed since 2001

All six categories grew between 2001 and 2023, but not at the same rate. Minerals and metals grew about eightfold and precious metals and stones about sevenfold, while fuels grew about 3.5 times (our arithmetic from the table). As a result the fuel share fell from about 45% of the total in 2001 to about 35% in 2023. The fuels band is also the one that moves most on the chart, falling sharply after 2008, dropping again in the middle of the 2010s and dipping in 2020, before peaking around 2022.

Notes on this infographic

Total. The six end values add up to $704 billion (our sum). Econovis rounds this to $700 billion in its post [1], and the 68% in the subtitle is $481 billion out of $704 billion.
Legend dot. The callout for “Machinery and Transportation” uses an orange dot, but its band and values are the green one.
Only end points printed. Values between 2002 and 2022 are not labelled, so year by year figures cannot be read from the graphic.
Data date. 2001 to 2023. Econovis posted the chart on 4 January 2025 [1].

Questions about Africa’s main exports

What does Africa export?

Mostly raw materials. In 2023 fuels and related products were $247 billion of Africa’s exports, precious metals and stones $127 billion, other minerals and metals $107 billion and agriculture and food $84 billion, with manufactured goods and machinery making up the rest [1] [2].

What is Africa’s biggest export?

Fuels and related products, at $247 billion or 35% of the total in 2023 [1].

How much does Africa export a year?

Africa's exports in the six categories on the chart add up to $704 billion in 2023, up from $156 billion in 2001. Econovis rounds the 2023 total to $700 billion [1]. Fuels, minerals and metals made up 68% of it, about $480 billion [1]. Every category grew over the period, with minerals and metals growing about eightfold.

How did the 2008 financial crisis and COVID-19 affect Africa's exports?

The chart marks dips in Africa's exports at the 2008 global financial crisis and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The fuels band moves most, falling sharply after 2008, dropping again in the middle of the 2010s and dipping in 2020, before peaking around 2022. Values between 2002 and 2022 are not labelled, so the size of each fall cannot be read from the graphic.