01Key Takeaways
- Trinidad and Tobago exported $7.86 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 31.8% from $11.53 billion in 2022, the most recent year with verified trade data available in this dataset.
- Mineral fuels led every export category at 30.5% ($2.40 billion), with organic chemicals ranking a close second at 19.9% ($1.57 billion).
- The United States was Trinidad and Tobago's largest export market, absorbing 34.2% of exports, worth $2.69 billion.
- The top three export partners together accounted for 43.8% of total export value.
025-Year Trend
| Year | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $7.2B | $5.5B | $8.6B | $11.5B | $7.9B |
03Top Export Markets (2023)
| Rank | Partner | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | $2.7B | 34.2% |
| 2 | China | $382.3M | 4.9% |
| 3 | Guyana | $375.3M | 4.8% |
| 4 | Belgium | $355.7M | 4.5% |
| 5 | Morocco | $321.2M | 4.1% |
| 6 | Netherlands | $303.7M | 3.9% |
| 7 | South Korea | $257.6M | 3.3% |
| 8 | Jamaica | $226.6M | 2.9% |
| 9 | Spain | $217.4M | 2.8% |
| 10 | Brazil | $210.9M | 2.7% |
04Top Export Categories (2023)
| Rank | Category | Value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mineral Fuels, Mineral Oils and Products of their Distillation; Bituminous Substances; Mineral Waxes | $2.4B | 30.5% |
| 2 | Organic Chemicals | $1.6B | 19.9% |
| 3 | Inorganic Chemicals; Organic or Inorganic Compounds of Precious Metals, of Rare-Earth Metals, of Radioactive Elements or of Isotopes | $1.5B | 19.2% |
| 4 | Iron and Steel | $754.1M | 9.6% |
| 5 | Fertilisers | $368.0M | 4.7% |
| 6 | Beverages, Spirits and Vinegar | $139.7M | 1.8% |
| 7 | Preparations of Cereals, Flour, Starch or Milk; Pastrycooks' Products | $125.2M | 1.6% |
| 8 | Nuclear Reactors, Boilers, Machinery and Mechanical Appliances; Parts thereof | $112.0M | 1.4% |
| 9 | Paper and Paperboard; Articles of Paper Pulp, of Paper or of Paperboard | $89.2M | 1.1% |
| 10 | Miscellaneous Edible Preparations | $83.5M | 1.1% |
05Trade Partner Map
06Analysis
Export Value Pulled Back Sharply After a Two-Year Surge
Trinidad and Tobago exported $7.86 billion worth of goods in 2023, down 31.8% from $11.53 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, tracking a small energy-exporting Caribbean economy through a volatile stretch.
Export value stood at $7.19 billion in 2019. It fell to $5.52 billion in 2020, the low point of this five-year window, before climbing sharply for two consecutive years. Export value reached $8.62 billion in 2021 and $11.53 billion in 2022, the high point of this five-year window, before falling back to $7.86 billion in 2023.
This dataset does not explain the 2020 decline, the two-year surge that followed, or the pullback in 2023. Export value in 2023 nonetheless remained above 2019 and 2020 levels. A decline of 31.8% is the single largest year-over-year move anywhere in this five-year window. It describes a sharp cooling from an unusually strong two-year run rather than a sustained decline. This kind of swing is common among economies whose exports are concentrated in energy and energy-linked chemicals. Global commodity prices can move export value sharply in either direction from one year to the next. The 2022 peak and the 2023 pullback both fit that broader pattern, even without a specific explanation in this dataset for either move.
Fuel and Petrochemicals Dominate a Concentrated Export List
Mineral fuels led every export category in 2023, worth $2.40 billion, or 30.5% of the total, by a clear margin the largest single category on this list. Organic chemicals ranked a close second at 19.9%, worth $1.57 billion, and inorganic chemicals followed at 19.2%, worth $1.51 billion. Trinidad and Tobago is the largest net ammonia exporter in the world, an industry built on the country's natural gas resources, a pattern closely reflected in the organic and inorganic chemical categories leading this dataset's own list.
Iron and steel added 9.6%, worth $754.08 million, and fertilizers contributed 4.7%, worth $367.95 million, another category tied to natural gas as a feedstock for nitrogen-based fertilizer production. Beverages, spirits and vinegar added 1.8%, worth $139.71 million.
Preparations of cereals, flour and milk contributed 1.6% ($125.17 million), and machinery and mechanical appliances added 1.4% ($112.03 million). Paper and paperboard contributed 1.1% ($89.19 million), and miscellaneous edible preparations closed out the top ten at a nearly identical 1.1% ($83.52 million), the smallest share among the ten categories listed here. Fuel and chemicals together account for close to seventy percent of total export value. That combination describes an export base built almost entirely around this country's natural gas resources. The remaining seven categories on this list are all worth less than $800 million each, a long, thin tail sitting well beneath the three dominant entries at the top.
The United States Absorbs More Than a Third of All Exports
The United States was by far Trinidad and Tobago's largest export market in 2023, taking 34.2% of exports, worth $2.69 billion. China ranked a distant second at 4.9%, worth $382.31 million. Guyana followed at 4.8%, worth $375.31 million, a neighboring South American economy with its own growing energy sector. Together, these top three partners accounted for 43.8% of total export value.
Belgium contributed 4.5% ($355.73 million), and Morocco added 4.1% ($321.23 million), rounding out a top five that spans North America, Asia, South America, Europe and North Africa. Netherlands followed at 3.9% ($303.68 million), and South Korea added 3.3% ($257.60 million).
Jamaica contributed 2.9% ($226.60 million), and Spain added 2.8% ($217.41 million). Brazil closed out the top ten at 2.7%, worth $210.85 million, the smallest share among the ten partners listed here. The gap between the United States and every other partner is wide, a concentration consistent with the US role as a major buyer of this country's ammonia and methanol exports. Ranks two through ten here are packed within roughly two percentage points of each other. That is a far tighter cluster than the wide gap separating the United States from the rest of this list.
Taken together, this dataset's most recent confirmed year describes an export profile built almost entirely around natural gas and its petrochemical derivatives, coming off the sharpest single-year pullback anywhere in this dataset. That profile is sold to a partner base led decisively by the United States.