Paraguay Export Data: $11.87B in 2023, Up 19.3%

Exports Jumped to a New Five-Year High

Paraguay exported $11.87 billion worth of goods in 2023, up 19.3% from $9.95 billion in 2022. That is the strongest total anywhere in this five-year dataset, and one of the sharper single-year gains among the countries covered here.

Exports stood at $7.97 billion in 2019, then climbed to $8.52 billion in 2020. The total kept rising to $10.57 billion in 2021, dipped to $9.95 billion in 2022, and jumped to $11.87 billion in 2023. That dip-then-jump pattern is common for agricultural exporters, where a single strong or weak harvest can swing the annual total by double digits even without any change in underlying demand. Global commodity prices add a second layer of volatility on top of that. A country whose export base leans this heavily on a handful of crops will see its annual total move with both how much it grew and what the world was willing to pay for it that particular year.

Soybeans and Meat Anchor an Agricultural Export Economy

Oil seeds led every export category in 2023, worth $3.64 billion, or 30.6% of the total. Soybeans make up the bulk of that figure. Paraguay ranked as the world's sixth-largest soybean producer as of 2018, trailing only the United States, Brazil, Argentina, China and India. Meat followed at 13.7% ($1.63 billion), reflecting a cattle industry that has grown alongside the country's soy boom. Mineral fuels ranked third at 13.1% ($1.55 billion), an unusual figure for a country with no significant oil or gas production of its own. Paraguay's landlocked geography and position between two much larger economies make it a natural transit point for fuel moving through the region, which likely explains most of that total. The country's own energy needs come almost entirely from elsewhere, and a share of what arrives clearly moves back out again rather than staying inside Paraguay's own borders.

Cereals added 10.5% ($1.24 billion), and food industry residues and prepared animal fodder, largely soybean meal and oilcake left over from processing, contributed 8.4% ($991.15 million). Animal, vegetable and microbial fats and oils, soybean oil chief among them, added 5.3% ($627.63 million). Electrical machinery brought in 2.8% ($336.43 million), and beverages contributed 1.2% ($142.38 million). Chemical products added 1.1% ($130.30 million), and aluminium and articles thereof closed out the top ten at 0.8% ($98.37 million).

Oil seeds, food industry residues and fats and oils are not really three separate stories. They are three stages of the same soybean supply chain, the raw bean, its processing byproducts and its extracted oil, all showing up as distinct export categories. Add cereals and meat to that picture, and agriculture accounts for the overwhelming majority of what Paraguay sells abroad. Electrical machinery, beverages, chemical products and aluminium round out the list, but none of them comes close to challenging the scale of the farm-driven categories above them. Aluminium is a particular case worth noting. Paraguay has no significant bauxite or alumina production of its own, so this small export figure almost certainly reflects smelting powered by the country's abundant hydroelectric capacity rather than mined raw material.

Argentina and Brazil Absorb Most of What Paraguay Ships Out

Argentina was the top export destination in 2023, absorbing 34.1% of the total ($4.05 billion). Brazil followed at 25.2% ($2.99 billion), and Chile took 10.4% ($1.23 billion). Together, those three neighbors made up 69.7% of total export value. Paraguay has no ports of its own, and depends on Argentina and Brazil for transit routes to international markets, a dependency this partner list reflects almost exactly.

The remaining partners are far smaller by comparison. The United States took 2.3% ($276.91 million), and Russia added 2.2% ($266.83 million). Uruguay contributed 2.1% ($250.03 million), and India added 2.1% ($245.92 million). Peru contributed 2.1% ($244.67 million). A regional catch-all category covering smaller Asian markets not tracked individually added 1.9% ($224.05 million), and the Netherlands closed out the top ten at 1.8% ($214.53 million).

Taken together, Paraguay's 2023 export data describes a landlocked agricultural economy whose entire trade profile runs through its two much larger neighbors. Soybeans and their derivatives fund most of the total, and Argentina and Brazil carry most of it to the rest of the world. Neither of those two facts is likely to change soon, since both trace back to geography rather than any policy choice that could shift quickly.