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List of Venezuela’s Top 10 Exports

A federal republic on South America’s northern coast, Venezuela is bordered by Guayana to its east, Brazil to its south and Colombia to its west.

Exports from Venezuela sank to an estimated US$37.9 billion in 2015, down -58.4% since 2011. Year over year, the value of Venezuelan exports fell -46.3% from 2014 to 2015.

Venezuela is highly dependent on its oil exports which dominated 90.6% of the country’s total product shipments. Therefore, Venezuela is particularly vulnerable to the global downswing in oil prices. 82.4% of its petroleum exports are crude oil with the remaining 17.6% comprised of refined petroleum products including gasoline.

Based on statistics from the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook Database, Venezuela’s total Gross Domestic Product was $479.1 billion as of April 2016. That metric represents a -7.1% deterioration from 2015, according to WorldsRichestCountries.com.

Using the latest GDP numbers, exports during 2015 account for about 7.9% of total Venezuelan economic output.

Given Venezuela’s population of 29.3 million people, the estimated $37.9 billion in 2015 Venezuelan exports represents roughly $1,290 for every person in the country–cut almost in half from comparable statistics for 2014.

TOP 10

The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Venezuelan global shipments during 2015. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Venezuela.

  1. Oil: US$34.3 billion (90.6% of total exports)
  2. Gems, precious metals: $922.1 million (2.4%)
  3. Organic chemicals: $583.4 million (1.5%)
  4. Iron and steel: $419.3 million (1.1%)
  5. Ores, slag, ash: $375.6 million (1%)
  6. Aluminum: $261.8 million (0.7%)
  7. Inorganic chemicals: $223.6 million (0.6%)
  8. Fertilizers: $146.3 million (0.4%)
  9. Fish: $81.8 million (0.2%)
  10. Electronic equipment: $53 million (0.1%)

Among the top 10 Venezuelan exports above, unwrought or semi-manufactured gold led the gems and precious metals category to its 4,712% value gain since 2011.

In second place was fish up 484.6% for the 5-year period ending in 2015. The organic chemicals product category appreciated by 234.4% over the same period. Electronics exports improved by 104.8% while shipments of inorganic chemicals moved ahead by 46.4%.

Oil was the big loser among Venezuela’s top 10 exports, down by -61.2% from 2011 to 2015. Iron and steel exports depreciated by -57.6%, followed by the ores, slag and ash category which dropped by -34.9%.

Venezuela’s unemployment rate was 6% as of December 2015, according to Trading Economics.

Advantages

The following types of Venezuelan 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 is 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.

  1. Oil: US$31.8 billion (Down by -63.9% since 2011)
  2. Gems, precious metals, coins: $908.6 million (Down by -5,935%)
  3. Ores, slag, ash: $370.8 million (Down by -26.1%)
  4. Aluminum: $118.2 million (Down by -637.9%)
  5. Fish: $61.1 million (Down by -175.6%)
  6. Inorganic chemicals: $37.4 million (Down by -106.6%)
  7. Raw hides excluding furskins: $20.3 million (Up by 849.6%)
  8. Lead: $12.7 million (Down by -147.9%)
  9. Beverages: $6.9 million (Down by -102.9%)
  10. Cocoa: $5.1 million (Down by -108%)

Venezuela has highly positive net exports in the international trade of oil. In turn, these cashflows indicate Venezuela’s strong competitive advantages for petroleum products.

Opportunities

Below are exports from Venezuela that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Venezuela’s goods trail Venezuelan importer spending on foreign products.

  1. Machines, engines, pumps: -US$4.3 billion (Down by -51.9% since 2011)
  2. Electronic equipment: -$2.1 billion (Down by -56.3%)
  3. Pharmaceuticals: -$1.8 billion (Down by -41.4%)
  4. Vehicles: -$1.7 billion (Up by 38.5%)
  5. Cereals: -$1.2 billion (Up by 7.1%)
  6. Meat: -$1.1 billion (Up by 7.7%)
  7. Dairy, eggs, honey: -$1 billion (Up by 11.4%)
  8. Iron or steel products: -$839.8 million (Down by -35.8%)
  9. Medical, technical equipment: -$689 million (Down by -71.3%)
  10. Plastics: -$589.3 million (Down by -53.3%)

Venezuela has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for machinery, including equipment that can be used to automate the production of other goods.

Companies

Venezuelan Export Companies

Only two Venezuelan corporations ranked among Forbes Global 2000 in 2015, namely:

  • Mercantil Servicios
  • Banco Occidental

Both corporations are regional banks.

Wikipedia also lists exporters from Venezuela. Selected examples are shown below:

Citgo Petroleum Corporation and Petróleos de Venezuela are two of Venezuela’s largest oil and gas companies.

CVG Alcasa is a leading aluminum producer. Siderúrgica del Orinoco and Siderúrgica del Turbio, S.A. are examples of Venezuelan steel manufacturers.