Mozambique Export Data: $8.28B in 2023, Down 0.28%

Floating LNG Turned Mozambique Into a Gas Exporter Almost Overnight

Mozambique exported $8.28 billion worth of goods in 2023, down a marginal 0.28% from $8.30 billion the year before. Mineral fuels accounted for more than half of that total on their own, at 57.61% ($4.77 billion). That makes it by far the most concentrated top category of any country in this dataset. The Coral Sul floating LNG facility, operated by Eni off the coast of the Rovuma Basin, shipped its first cargo of liquefied natural gas in November 2022. It has capacity to produce 3.4 million tonnes a year. That single project is why Mozambique's mineral fuel exports barely registered a few years earlier and now anchor the entire export economy.

The gas story is only getting started. A much larger onshore LNG project led by TotalEnergies in Cabo Delgado has sat under force majeure since an insurgent attack on the nearby town of Palma in April 2021. That status only lifted in November 2025, with first shipments now targeted for 2029. The gas exports already showing up in this 2023 data come from the smaller, offshore Coral Sul plant. The bigger onshore project that could dwarf it remains years away. Mozambique's fuel export figures are likely to keep climbing well beyond 2023 once that second wave of production comes online, assuming security conditions in the north hold. Coal mined from the Moatize basin in Tete province has sat inside this same mineral fuels category for well over a decade, but its share has shrunk fast next to LNG's sudden arrival, even though coal shipments themselves have not disappeared.

Aluminum, Titanium and Rubies Round Out the Mix, But One Plant Is at Risk

Aluminum supplied 15.41% of exports in 2023, worth $1.28 billion. Almost all of it came from a single smelter near Maputo that alone accounts for roughly 4% of Mozambique's entire GDP. That smelter entered care and maintenance in March 2026 after South32 could not secure sufficient and affordable electricity, a shutdown the IMF has warned poses major downside risks to Mozambique's economy. The shutdown falls outside the 2023 numbers here, but it threatens Mozambique's second-largest export category going forward. Ores, slag and ash added 6.24% ($517 million), driven mainly by ilmenite and other titanium-bearing minerals dredged from heavy mineral sands at the Moma mine on the northern coast. Precious and semi-precious stones contributed 3.15% ($261 million), largely rubies pulled from the Montepuez deposit in Cabo Delgado, widely regarded as one of the most significant ruby finds anywhere in the world.

Beyond mining and energy, Mozambique's export list turns agricultural. Oil seeds and related grains supplied 3.36% ($278 million). Tobacco added 1.86% ($154 million), and vegetables contributed 1.82% ($150 million). Fruit and nuts brought in 1.55% ($128 million), while salt, sulphur, cement and related minerals added another 1.55% ($128 million). Fertilizers closed out the top ten at 1.18% ($97 million). None of these categories comes close to challenging fuel or aluminum. Together they show an economy still selling raw agricultural output alongside its bigger mineral and energy exports.

India Edges Out China and South Africa as Mozambique's Top Buyer

India bought 15.64% of Mozambique's exports in 2023, worth $1.29 billion, narrowly ahead of China at 14.20% ($1.18 billion) and South Africa at 13.97% ($1.16 billion). Those three buyers combined made up 43.81% of total export value, a far more even split than countries where one trading partner dominates. South Korea followed at 5.64% ($467 million), and the United Kingdom added 4.83% ($400 million). Singapore contributed 4.72% ($390 million), and Thailand supplied 4.59% ($380 million). Vietnam bought 3.92% ($324 million), the Netherlands added 3.68% ($305 million), and Italy rounded out the top ten at 2.95% ($244 million). This spread of Asian and African buyers lines up closely with Mozambique's fuel and mineral exports, since coal, gas and aluminum all tend to move toward large industrial economies rather than any single regional bloc.

Export values swung sharply over the past five years before settling near a new high. The total stood at $4.79 billion in 2019, then dropped to $3.72 billion in 2020 as the pandemic disrupted global trade. It rebounded to $5.70 billion in 2021, then jumped to $8.30 billion in 2022 as Coral Sul's gas shipments ramped up, before holding almost exactly at that level in 2023 with $8.28 billion. That plateau suggests Mozambique's export economy has settled into a new, gas-driven baseline, at least until the much larger onshore LNG project starts shipping later this decade.