North Macedonia Export Data: $8.99B in 2023, Up 3.04%

One Company's Catalysts Explain North Macedonia's Top Export

North Macedonia exported $8.99 billion worth of goods in 2023, up 3.04% from $8.73 billion in 2022. Chemical products not elsewhere classified led every category by a wide margin, at 28.77% of the total, worth $2.59 billion. Johnson Matthey's plant in Skopje, opened in 2009 and employing roughly 900 workers, has produced more than 150 million catalytic converters, with one out of every three cars in Europe running on a catalyst made there. That single facility explains why a chemical classification, rather than a more obviously industrial one, tops North Macedonia's entire export list. Catalytic converters use small amounts of precious metals like platinum and palladium to convert harmful engine exhaust into less toxic gases. Manufacturing them counts as a chemical process under international trade classifications, even though the finished product ends up mounted inside a car's exhaust system rather than sold as a chemical in any conventional sense.

Germany bought 44.05% of North Macedonia's exports in 2023, worth $3.96 billion, more than every other destination combined. Metal products and automotive components accounted for 42.3% of North Macedonia's total exports in 2024, with 87% of that output destined for EU markets, and major employers in the sector include Aptiv, Adient and Lear, all Tier-1 automotive suppliers. That concentration reflects how deeply North Macedonia's manufacturing base has folded itself into the German-led European automotive supply chain. Global auto parts makers set up plants in North Macedonia specifically to sit close to German assembly lines. They take advantage of lower labor costs, EU trade access and physical proximity, letting components move across the border within a day or two rather than the weeks a shipment from Asia would require.

Automotive Components and Garments Round Out an EU-Integrated Export Base

Electrical machinery supplied 16.67% of exports, worth $1.50 billion, the second-largest category, largely wire harnesses and other components feeding the same automotive supply chain covered above. Together, chemical products and electrical machinery, both tied substantially to the automotive industry, make up close to half of everything North Macedonia sells abroad. Vehicles themselves added a further 5.93% ($533 million), and iron and steel contributed 5.55% ($499 million), an input that feeds both the automotive sector and the country's broader construction industry.

Furniture supplied 4.96% of exports ($446 million), and mineral fuels added 4.12% ($370 million). Apparel, not knitted or crocheted, contributed 3.88% ($349 million). North Macedonia's textile sector operates 93% on a cut-make-trim basis for export, generating more than 400 million euros a year from roughly 35,000 workers across 1,100 companies, with Germany alone receiving more than 62% of textile exports specifically. That garment trade reinforces the same German-centered pattern seen throughout North Macedonia's export economy, even in a sector that has nothing directly to do with cars or catalysts. Under this cut-make-trim arrangement, Western European fashion brands supply the fabric and designs while North Macedonian factories handle the labor-intensive cutting, sewing and finishing before sending the garments back for sale under brands most consumers would never associate with the Balkans. Machinery added 3.60% ($324 million), and ores, slag and ash contributed 2.46% ($221 million). Iron and steel articles closed out the top ten at 2.31% ($208 million). None of these smaller categories rivals the scale of chemical products or electrical machinery, but together they show an economy that still exports genuine agricultural and industrial goods alongside its dominant automotive supply-chain role.

Germany's Dominance Extends Across Nearly Every Export Category

Serbia ranked second among North Macedonia's export partners at 9.66% ($869 million), and Bulgaria added 4.39% ($395 million). Greece contributed 3.68% ($331 million), and Hungary supplied 3.65% ($328 million). Belgium added 3.61% ($325 million), and Czechia contributed 2.51% ($226 million). Italy supplied 2.48% ($223 million), and Slovakia added 2.28% ($205 million). Turkey rounded out the entire top ten list at 2.18% ($196 million). Together, Germany, Serbia and Bulgaria made up 58.11% of total export value, a concentration built almost entirely on geography and supply-chain integration with just a handful of neighboring and nearby European economies.

Export values climbed unevenly over the past five years. The total stood at $7.20 billion in 2019, dropped to $6.63 billion in 2020 as the pandemic disrupted global trade, then rebounded steadily to $8.19 billion in 2021, $8.73 billion in 2022 and $8.99 billion in 2023.