Africa’s total exports revenue decline by 22% in 2020

Africa’s exports in 2020 totaled 370.8 billion USD, implying a 22.2% decline from 2019 export values. Africa’s exports in 2020 accounted for 2.1% of total global exports.

A country's import and export are key factors that can influence its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), exchange rate, inflation rate and interest rates. Therefore, countries must maintain an appropriate balance between its imports and exports.

Breakdown & Key Metrics

Africa has a diverse range of exported products, with oil, gas and its related commodities, precious metals, minerals, coffees, grains, livestock, textiles and clothing being the major contributors to the continent's exports.

Data by the World’s Top Exports shows the revenue African countries generated (in billions of USD) from the exportation of their goods in 2020. South Africa tops the list of African countries with a total revenue generation of 85.7 billion USD; down by 5.2% from the previous year. Gems and precious metals contributed about 23% of the country’s exports.

Nigeria is a distant second from South Africa in revenue generated totaling 33.4 billion USD; a huge shortfall of 37.8% from 2019’s revenue. Morocco is third after generating the sum of 27.7 billion USD; 6.4% lower than the previous year. Egypt and Angola occupy fourth & fifth positions on the list after generating total revenues of 26.9 billion USD and 22.6 billion USD, and revenue declines of 12.5% and 35.1% compared to 2019 values.

The top five countries with the highest export revenues account for roughly 53% of Africa’s export values in 2020. Combining the top 10 African exporters, the export revenues is almost three-quarters (72.2%) of the continent’s total export values in 2020.

Top Gainers and Losers

Some African countries recorded increases in total revenue generated from their exports in 2020 as against 2019’s revenues. These countries include Sao Tome & Principe with the highest year-on-year gains of 165.9% and generate 26.3 million USD. Cape Verde recorded a 53.2% increase from 2019 with a total export revenue of 94.8 million USD, Lesotho had a 43.8% increase in export revenue totaling 928.7 million USD and Burkina Faso recorded a 23.4% increase in export revenue totaling 4.1 billion USD.

Rwanda, Libya, South Sudan and Liberia recorded some of the highest declines in total export revenue generation from 2019 export revenues in 2020. Rwanda’s 2019 total export revenue declined by 72.6% to 318.1 million USD in 2020. Libya’s 2019 total export revenue declined by 71.7% to 8.4 billion USD in 2020. South Sudan’s 2019 total export revenue declined by 51.7% to 792.9 million USD in 2020 and Liberia’s 2019 total export revenue declined by 969.1 million USD in 2020.

Takeaway

Africa has a diverse range of products it exports with oil, gas, precious metals, minerals, coffees, grains, livestock, textiles and clothing being the major contributors to the continent's exports. With global economies recovering from the aftermath of COVID-19, there continues to be light at the end of the tunnel for Africa's export revenue values.