01Key Takeaways
- Suriname exported $2.31 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 18.5% from $2.84 billion in 2022, the most recent year with verified trade data available in this dataset.
- Pearls, precious stones and metals led every export category by a wide margin, worth $1.71 billion, or 74.0% of the total, consistent with mining's outsized role in the country's export base.
- A destination recorded in trade statistics as "Areas, nes," a catch-all classification for shipments not assigned to a single specific country, accounted for 92.7% of exports, worth $2.14 billion.
- The top three export destinations together accounted for 96.6% of total export value.
025-Year Trend
| Year | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $2.2B | $2.2B | $2.3B | $2.8B | $2.3B |
03Top Export Markets (2023)
| Rank | Partner | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Areas, nes | $2.1B | 92.7% |
| 2 | United States | $74.1M | 3.2% |
| 3 | United Arab Emirates | $15.9M | 0.7% |
| 4 | Paraguay | $14.7M | 0.6% |
| 5 | Trinidad & Tobago | $11.6M | 0.5% |
| 6 | Netherlands | $9.9M | 0.4% |
| 7 | China | $7.1M | 0.3% |
| 8 | France | $6.5M | 0.3% |
| 9 | United Kingdom | $5.0M | 0.2% |
| 10 | South Korea | $1.9M | 0.1% |
04Top Export Categories (2023)
| Rank | Category | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Natural or Cultured Pearls, Precious or Semi-Precious Stones, Precious Metals, Metals Clad with Precious Metal, and Articles thereof; Imitation Jewellery; Coin | $1.7B | 74.0% |
| 2 | Ores, Slag and Ash | $133.6M | 5.8% |
| 3 | Nuclear Reactors, Boilers, Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Parts thereof | $103.1M | 4.5% |
| 4 | Wood and Articles of Wood; Wood Charcoal | $74.6M | 3.2% |
| 5 | Tobacco and Manufactured Tobacco Substitutes | $44.2M | 1.9% |
| 6 | Fish and Crustaceans, Molluscs and other Aquatic Invertebrates | $39.3M | 1.7% |
| 7 | Beverages, Spirits and Vinegar | $32.0M | 1.4% |
| 8 | Cereals | $26.9M | 1.2% |
| 9 | Inorganic Chemicals; Organic or Inorganic Compounds of Precious Metals, of Rare-Earth Metals, of Radioactive Elements or of Isotopes | $26.1M | 1.1% |
| 10 | Articles of Iron or Steel | $19.1M | 0.8% |
05Trade Partner Map
06Analysis
Export Value Fell Back in 2023 After a Record 2022
Suriname exported $2.31 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 18.5% from $2.84 billion in 2022. This is the most recent year with verified trade data available in this dataset. The dataset covers a full five years, from 2019 through 2023.
Export value stood at $2.16 billion in 2019. It rose gradually over the next two years, reaching $2.19 billion in 2020 and $2.29 billion in 2021, before jumping sharply to $2.84 billion in 2022, the high point of this five-year window. Export value then pulled back to $2.31 billion in 2023.
This dataset does not explain the sharp 2022 jump or the pullback that followed. Export value in 2023 nonetheless remained above every year in this window before 2022. A decline of 18.5%, arriving right after the single largest jump in this five-year period, describes a partial reversal of an unusually strong year rather than a sustained slide. The five-year pattern traces a slow climb, a sharp spike, and then a pullback. It is not a steady move in one direction. Even after that pullback, export value in 2023 still sits closer to the 2022 peak than to any year from 2019 through 2021. The 2019-to-2021 stretch looks almost flat by comparison, a gentle climb rather than the sharp swings that followed it.
Precious Metals Dominate an Export List Reflecting Suriname's Mining Base
Pearls, precious stones and precious metals led every export category in 2023, worth $1.71 billion, or 74.0% of the total, by far the largest single category on this list. Mining accounts for roughly 85% of Suriname's exports, with gold standing as one of the country's leading mineral commodities. That mining base helps explain why one category so heavily outweighs every other entry here.
Ores, slag and ash ranked a distant second at 5.8%, worth $133.64 million. Machinery and mechanical appliances followed at 4.5%, worth $103.12 million. Wood and articles of wood rounded out a top four at 3.2%, worth $74.59 million. Nothing else on this list comes close.
Tobacco contributed 1.9% ($44.17 million), and fish and crustaceans added 1.7% ($39.29 million). Beverages, spirits and vinegar contributed 1.4% ($32.01 million), and cereals added 1.2% ($26.86 million). Inorganic chemicals contributed 1.1% ($26.15 million), and iron or steel articles closed out the top ten at 0.8%, worth $19.06 million, the smallest share among the ten categories listed here. Precious stones and metals alone are worth close to thirteen times the second-place category. That gap describes an export list shaped overwhelmingly by a single mineral sector, with every other category trailing far behind rather than clustering close to the top.
Nearly All Exports Are Recorded Under a Single Unspecified Destination
A destination recorded in trade statistics as "Areas, nes" accounted for 92.7% of exports in 2023, worth $2.14 billion. This is a recognized catch-all classification within international trade statistics, used for shipments that customs authorities do not assign to a single specific destination country, rather than a real country in its own right. Precious metals shipments in particular are often recorded this way in customs data, which helps explain why this classification lines up so closely with the category leading the export list above.
United States ranked a distant second at 3.2% ($74.07 million). That is still a small figure next to the top spot. Together, the unspecified-destination category and the United States alone accounted for well over 95% of total export value, and the top three destinations combined reached 96.6%.
United Arab Emirates rounded out the top three at 0.7%, worth $15.86 million. Paraguay followed at 0.6%, worth $14.74 million, and Trinidad & Tobago added 0.5%, worth $11.63 million.
Netherlands contributed 0.4% ($9.89 million), and China added 0.3% ($7.15 million). France followed at 0.3% ($6.47 million), and United Kingdom added 0.2% ($5.01 million). South Korea closed out the top ten at 0.1%, worth $1.93 million, the smallest share among the ten destinations listed here. Every named country on this list holds a share below 4%, a reflection of how much of total export value sits inside the unspecified-destination category above.
Taken together, this dataset's most recent confirmed year describes an export profile built almost entirely around precious metals. The overwhelming majority of shipments are recorded under a single unspecified destination rather than a named trading partner.