01Key Takeaways
- Kiribati exported $8.86 million worth of goods in 2021, down 4.39% from $9.27 million in 2020. Only two years of confirmed trade data are available, not a longer multi-year trend.
- Animal and vegetable fats and oils, mostly coconut oil, led every export category at 49.61% ($4.40 million).
- Fish and crustaceans ranked second at 29.96% ($2.66 million), a modest sum next to what Kiribati actually earns from its tuna-rich waters.
- New Caledonia ranked as Kiribati's top export destination at 27.53% ($2.44 million), narrowly ahead of Malaysia at 19.12% and Japan at 19.05%.
022-Year Trend
| Year | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Value | $9.3M | $8.9M |
03Top Export Markets (2021)
| Rank | Partner | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Caledonia | $2.4M | 27.5% |
| 2 | Malaysia | $1.7M | 19.1% |
| 3 | Japan | $1.7M | 19.0% |
| 4 | Fiji | $1.2M | 13.0% |
| 5 | United States | $920.0K | 10.4% |
| 6 | Areas, nes | $423.3K | 4.8% |
| 7 | Belize | $256.1K | 2.9% |
| 8 | American Samoa | $102.4K | 1.2% |
| 9 | New Zealand | $99.0K | 1.1% |
| 10 | Other Asia, nes | $27.9K | 0.3% |
04Top Export Categories (2021)
| Rank | Category | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Animal or Vegetable Fats and Oils and their Cleavage Products; Prepared Edible Fats; Animal or Vegetable Waxes | $4.4M | 49.6% |
| 2 | Fish and Crustaceans, Molluscs and other Aquatic Invertebrates | $2.7M | 30.0% |
| 3 | Oil Seeds and Oleaginous Fruits; Miscellaneous Grains, Seeds and Fruit; Industrial or Medicinal Plants; Straw and Fodder | $1.6M | 17.6% |
| 4 | Photographic or Cinematographic Goods | $87.5K | 1.0% |
| 5 | Pharmaceutical Products | $59.5K | 0.7% |
| 6 | Lead and Articles thereof | $27.9K | 0.3% |
| 7 | Aluminium and Articles thereof | $25.5K | 0.3% |
| 8 | Nuclear Reactors, Boilers, Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Parts thereof | $9.1K | 0.1% |
| 9 | Optical, Photographic, Cinematographic, Measuring, Checking, Precision, Medical or Surgical Instruments and Apparatus; Parts and Accessories thereof | $6.9K | 0.1% |
| 10 | Articles of Iron or Steel | $5.7K | 0.1% |
05Trade Partner Map
06Analysis
Coconut Oil Still Anchors Kiribati's Tiny Export Economy
Kiribati exported $8.86 million worth of goods in 2021, down 4.39% from $9.27 million in 2020. The most recent fact sheet for this country only covers those two years, not a full five-year run, so this reading captures a single year-over-year comparison rather than a longer trend. Animal and vegetable fats and oils led every export category by a wide margin, at 49.61% of the total, worth $4.40 million. That category is mostly coconut oil, pressed from copra harvested across Kiribati's scattered atolls. Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits, largely raw copra before it gets pressed into oil, added a further 17.65% ($1.56 million), meaning coconut products in one form or another made up most of everything Kiribati sold abroad that year.
Fish and crustaceans ranked second at 29.96% ($2.66 million), a modest figure given how central tuna is to Kiribati's broader economy. Kiribati's revenue from tuna fishing licenses and transshipment fees grew from $25.1 million in 2007 to $121.8 million in 2016 under the Parties to the Nauru Agreement's Vessel Day Scheme, a system that charges foreign fishing fleets for access to Pacific waters. Most of that money arrives as licensing income rather than recorded goods exports, which is why the export total in this report looks small next to how wealthy Kiribati's tuna grounds actually are.
Small Partners With Outsized Roles in the Pacific Tuna Trade
New Caledonia absorbed 27.53% of Kiribati's exports in 2021, worth $2.44 million, more than any other single destination. Malaysia followed closely at 19.12% ($1.69 million), and Japan took 19.05% ($1.69 million), a near-identical figure. Together, these top three destinations made up 65.70% of total export value. Fiji added 12.99% ($1.15 million), and United States contributed 10.38% ($920,011), rounding out the countries buying the bulk of Kiribati's coconut and fish products.
A grouping labeled areas not elsewhere specified took 4.78% ($423,335), and Belize absorbed 2.89% ($256,145), an unusual entry for a country thousands of miles from Kiribati. Belize is a well-known flag of convenience country, meaning foreign-owned fishing vessels register there to fly its flag while operating far from its own waters, which likely explains its presence on this list better than any direct trade relationship would. American Samoa added 1.16% ($102,385). The StarKist tuna cannery in American Samoa's port of Pago Pago generates as much as 80% of that US territory's total revenue, making it one of the Pacific's largest tuna processing hubs. New Zealand closed out the meaningful share of the top ten at 1.12% ($98,992).
Only Two Years of Data, But a Clear Small Decline
Kiribati's export total fell from $9.27 million in 2020 to $8.86 million in 2021, a decline of 4.39%. That is the complete trend available for this country's export side. A two-point comparison like this cannot show whether that dip continued, reversed, or was itself unusual against a longer run of years, the way five-year trends can for larger economies with more complete reporting.
What the numbers do show clearly is a small, concentrated economy built on two commodities, coconut products and fish, sold to a short list of regional and Pacific Rim buyers. That structure leaves Kiribati's recorded export total highly exposed to weather that affects coconut harvests. It is just as exposed to shifts in where fishing fleets choose to land and process their catch. All of that sits on top of the much larger fishing license revenue, which never shows up in a goods export total like this one at all.