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Wikimedia CommonsAn Oceanian country situated immediately north of Australia, the Independent State of Papua New Guinea shipped US$15.9 billion worth of exported products around the world in 2025.
That calculated dollar amount results from a 64.9% increase from $9.66 billion five years earlier in 2021.
Year over year, the overall value of Papua New Guinean exports accelerated by 15.7% compared to $13.76 billion starting from 2024.
The top 5 most valuable goods exported from Papua New Guinea are petroleum gases, unwrought gold, copper ores and concentrates, palm oil and crude petroleum oil. Revealing a concentrated portfolio, those five leading product groups represent over three-quarters (78.3%) of value of Papua New Guinea’s exports during 2025.
Papua New Guinea’s Major Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data from 2024 shows that 90.1% of products exported from Papua New Guinea was bought by importers in: Japan (22.1% of the Papua New Guinean total), Australia (20%), mainland China (18.5%), Taiwan (6.7%), Singapore (6.3%), North Korea (4.7%), Malaysia (2.9%), Philippines (2.4%), Thailand (1.9%), Netherlands (1.65%), United Kingdom (1.58%) and Germany (1.4%).
From a continental perspective, 69.1% of Papua New Guinea’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 20.7% was sold to importers in Oceania mostly Australia. Papua New Guinea shipped another 8.8% worth of goods to buyers in Europe.
Smaller percentages went to buyers in North America (1.2%), Africa (0.13%) then Latin America (0.0002%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
Given Papua New Guinea’s population of 12.8 million people, its total US$15.9 billion in exports translates to roughly $1,250 for every resident in the island country. That dollar metric exceeds the average $1,100 per capita one year earlier for 2024.
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Papua New Guinean global shipments during 2025. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Papua New Guinea.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$6 billion (37.5% of total exports)
- Gems, precious metals: $4 billion (25.1%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $2.5 billion (15.9%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $1.1 billion (6.9%)
- Wood: $483.5 million (3%)
- Nickel: $472.3 million (3%)
- Cocoa: $391.7 million (2.5%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $309.6 million (1.9%)
- Meat/seafood preparations: $261.9 million (1.6%)
- Fish: $215.8 million (1.4%)
Papua New Guinea’s top 10 exports accounted for 98.8% of the overall value of its global shipments.
Wood represents the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 104.6% from 2024 to 2025.
In second place for improving export sales was nickel via a 79.9% advance.
Papua New Guinea’s shipments of gems and precious metals posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 52.8%.
The leading decliner among Papua New Guinea’s top 10 export categories was fish, thanks to a -58.5% year-over-year drop.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, petroleum gases represent Papua New Guinea’s most valuable exported product at 32.7% of the country’s total. In second place was unwrought gold (24%) trailed by copper ores and concentrates (12.1%), palm oil (5.4%), crude oil (4.2%), precious metal ores and concentrates (3.5%), nickel matte and oxide sinters (3%), cocoa beans (2.5%), rough wood (2.4%) then coffee (1.9%).
Products Behind Papua New Guinea’s Best Trade Surpluses
Overall Papua New Guinea achieved a US$9.74 billion trade surplus for 2025, expanding by 35.9% from the $7.2 billion in black ink one year earlier in 2024.
The following types of Papua New Guinean product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$5 billion (Down by -0.04% since 2024)
- Gems, precious metals: $4 billion (Up by 52.9%)
- Ores, slag, ash: $2.5 billion (Up by 46.4%)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: $1 billion (Up by 40.5%)
- Wood: $477.2 million (Up by 107.9%)
- Nickel: $472.2 million (Up by 79.9%)
- Cocoa: $384.1 million (Up by 20.2%)
- Coffee, tea, spices: $306.1 million (Up by 62.9%)
- Meat/seafood preparations: $210.2 million (Up by 16.1%)
- Fish: $203.7 million (Down by -59.8%)
Historically, Papua New Guinea earns positive net exports in the international trade of petroleum gases and, to a lesser extent, crude oil. In turn, these cashflows indicate Papua New Guinea’s strong competitive advantages under the category mineral fuels including oil.
Products Causing Papua New Guinea’s Worst Trade Deficits
Below are exports from Papua New Guinea that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Papua New Guinea’s goods trail Papua New Guinean importer spending on foreign products.
- Machinery including computers: -US$1.1 billion (Up by 10.4% since 2024)
- Vehicles: -$508.4 million (Down by -0.6%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$382.1 million (Down by -12.2%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$277.7 million (Up by 1.4%)
- Cereals: -$224.9 million (Down by -38.7%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: -$219.4 million (Up by 33.3%)
- Meat: -$217.5 million (Up by 29.4%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: -$217.3 million (Up by 603.3%)
- Miscellaneous food preparations: -$164.8 million (Up by 11.4%)
- Furniture, bedding, lighting, signs, prefab buildings: -$105 million (Down by -30.9%)
Papua New Guinea has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits under the machinery including computers category.
Papua New Guinean Export Companies
Not one Papua New Guinean corporation ranks among Forbes Global 2000.
Wikipedia lists exports-related companies from Papua New Guinea. Selected examples are shown below.
- Bank South Pacific (international bank)
- InterOil (oil, gas)
- Liquid Niugini LNG (natural gas)
- Oil Search Limited (oil, gas)
- Ok Tedi Mining Limited (copper, gold mining)
- PNG Air (airliner)
In macroeconomic terms, Papua New Guinea’s total exported goods represent 33.1% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2025 ($48.1 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 33.1% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2025 compares to 30.7% for 2024. Those percentages suggest a relatively increasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Papua New Guinea’s total economic performance, albeit based on a short timeframe.
Any key indicator for an economy’s health is the unemployment rate. Papua New Guinea’s unemployment rate averaged 2.6% in 2025, equaling the average 2.6% in 2024 per Trading Economics statistics.
Papua New Guinea’s capital city is Port Moresby, nicknamed “Pom City”.
See also Gold Exports by Country, Silver Exports by Country and Platinum Exports by Country.
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on August 26, 2026
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on August 26, 2026
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on August 26, 2026
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on August 26, 2026
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on August 26, 2026
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on August 26, 2026
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Papua New Guinea. Accessed on August 26, 2026
Wikipedia, Papua New Guinea. Accessed on August 26, 2026
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on August 26, 2026
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