Burkina Faso: Agricultural raw materials exports (% of merchandise exports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Burkina Faso's agricultural raw materials exports (% of merchandise exports) rose 0.31 percentage points on 2023 (from 5.72% to 6.03%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1980 to 2023), the average change was −0.62 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 6.74 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 29.98 percentage points in 1976 and the biggest yearly fall was 20.89 percentage points in 2008. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2015 to 2024 the straight-line trend is downward, about 0.99 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 68% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 1.72% for 2027. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2022 to 2024 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 1.67%, against 2.63% for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

In 2024, Burkina Faso had the 4th highest value of the 35 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Burkina Faso in the 2024 ranking

• Benin — 1st of 35: 52.85%
• Uruguay — 2nd of 35: 14.11%
• Central African Republic — 4th of 35: 5.92%
• Lesotho — 5th of 35: 5.15%
• Cambodia — 6th of 35: 2.62%

What this measures

Agricultural raw materials comprise section 2 of SITC Rev. 3 (crude materials, inedible, except fuels) excluding divisions 22 (oil-seeds and oleaginous fruits), 27 (crude fertilizers and minerals excluding coal, petroleum, and precious stones), and 28 (metalliferous ores and scrap). This indicator is expressed as a percentage of merchandise exports which is comprised of goods whose economic ownership is changed between a resident and a non-resident and that are not included in the following specific categories: goods under merchanting, non-monetary gold, and parts of travel, construction, and government goods and services n.i.e.

Limitations: Previous editions contained data based on the SITC revision 1. Data for earlier years in previous editions may differ because of the change in methodology. Concordance tables are available to convert data reported in one system to another.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 51 values

Agricultural raw materials exports (% of merchandise exports) in nearby economies

• Angola — 0.03% (2025)
• Benin — 52.85% (2024)
• Botswana — 0.04% (2023)
• Burundi — 0.53% (2023)
• Cabo Verde — 0% (2023)
• Cameroon — 14.89% (2023)
• Central African Republic — 5.92% (2024)
• Comoros — 0.00054% (2023)
• Congo, Dem. Rep.

More private sector & trade data for Burkina Faso

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 67.5% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$7.57 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$11.08 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 41.7% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$5.88 billion (2023)
• Merchandise exports to high-income economies (% of total merchandise exports) — 82.37% (2023)
• Merchandise exports to low- and middle-income economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (% of total merchandise exports)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Burkina Faso's agricultural raw materials exports (% of merchandise exports)?

6.03% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1962?

It is up 2.22 percentage points from 3.82% in 1962. The highest value was 75.44% in 2004 and the lowest 3.82% in 1962.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator TX.VAL.AGRI.ZS.UN, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Comtrade database, United Nations (UN), publisher: UN Statistics Division; World Integrated Trade Solution system (WITS); Staff estimates, World Bank (WB) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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