Gabon Export Trade Data: $12.69B in 2023, Up 21.25%

Oil and Manganese Dominate, but Two Export Bans Are Reshaping the List

Gabon exported $12.69 billion worth of goods in 2023, up 21.25% from $10.47 billion the year before. Mineral fuels led every category by a wide margin, worth $6.85 billion, or 53.99% of the total, underscoring how central oil remains to Gabon's economy. Ores, slag, and ash ranked second at 23.26% ($2.95 billion), a category dominated by manganese, where Gabon ranks among the largest producers in the world. Gabon announced it will prohibit manganese ore exports beginning in 2029, aiming to build a homegrown processing industry, a restriction significant enough that manganese alone accounted for 60% of French mining group Eramet's 2024 revenue. That policy points toward a future where this category looks very different from how it does today.

Ships, boats, and floating structures ranked third at 12.78% ($1.62 billion), an unusually large and specific category for a country that does not build ships. Gabon's ship registry has grown exponentially since international sanctions came into effect following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and both Gabon and Eswatini are believed to be involved in the growing "shadow" or "dark" fleets transporting sanctioned oil. The timing lines up closely with this export category's size, though the fact sheet behind this page does not break out exactly which vessels or transactions make up the total. Wood and articles of wood added 6.60% ($837.25 million). Gabon's ban on unprocessed log exports took effect January 1, 2010, aimed at encouraging local processing of wood into finished and semi-finished products rather than shipping raw timber overseas, which is why this category consists entirely of processed wood products today.

Everything else on the list is small by comparison. Animal, vegetable, or microbial fats and oils added 0.82% ($104.56 million), and machinery and mechanical appliances contributed 0.56% ($70.54 million). Iron or steel articles took 0.37% ($47.43 million), electrical machinery added 0.31% ($39.47 million), and iron and steel contributed another 0.31% ($38.83 million). Aircraft, spacecraft, and parts closed out the top ten at 0.17% ($21.49 million).

China Buys More Than the Rest of the Top Ten Combined

China bought 27.70% of Gabon's exports, worth $3.52 billion, more than the next three destinations combined and by far the largest single buyer of Gabonese goods. France followed at 10.56% ($1.34 billion), a legacy of Gabon's history as a former French colony that still shows up clearly in its trade patterns. Spain took 5.95% ($755.06 million), rounding out a top three that made up 44.21% of total export value.

Netherlands added 5.70% ($723.99 million), and Israel contributed 5.36% ($679.84 million). Malaysia took 4.97% ($631.40 million), and Italy added 4.68% ($593.99 million). India contributed 4.63% ($588.40 million), Congo - Brazzaville took 4.52% ($574.03 million), and Indonesia closed out the top ten at 4.52% ($573.35 million). Outside of China and France, every other destination sits in a tight band between roughly 4.5% and 6% of the total, a genuinely diversified spread for a country whose export categories are this concentrated in oil and minerals.

A Sharp Jump Tied to Energy Prices, Not Just Volume

Gabon's export total climbed steadily across most of the five-year window before accelerating in the last two years. It stood at $7.71 billion in 2019, then eased slightly to $7.34 billion in 2020 as the pandemic and a collapse in oil prices weighed on demand. It recovered to $8.03 billion in 2021, then jumped to $10.47 billion in 2022 as energy prices surged worldwide following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The 2023 total of $12.69 billion, up 21.25% year over year, extends that climb rather than reversing it, an unusual pattern given how sharply energy prices themselves eased in many markets during 2023. Mineral fuels are still worth well over half of Gabon's export total. That concentration means the country's headline trade figures are likely to keep tracking global oil demand and pricing closely for now. Two policy shifts could change that balance over time. The manganese export ban set for 2029, and the log export ban already in place since 2010, both push Gabon toward exporting more processed goods and fewer raw resources. Whether that shift meaningfully changes the composition of this export list, or whether oil simply continues to dominate regardless of what happens to the smaller categories beneath it, is a question worth revisiting as those policies play out over the coming years.