Iraq: Food exports (% of merchandise exports)

Key figures

Since 1963 it is down 3.44 percentage points from 3.96% in 1963. The World Bank has no value for 36 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

What the numbers say

In 2024, Iraq's food exports (% of merchandise exports) fell 0.01 percentage points on 2023 (from 0.54% to 0.53%).

Across the 20 yearly changes before that (1973 to 2023), the average change was −0.86 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 3.49 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 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 3.17 percentage points in 1973 and the biggest yearly fall was 13.99 percentage points in 1974. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

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

How it compares

In 2024, Iraq had the 35th highest value of the 36 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 Iraq in the 2024 ranking

• Niger — 31st of 36: 4.07%
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 32nd of 36: 1.34%
• Algeria — 33rd of 36: 0.54%
• Central African Republic — 35th of 36: 0.22%
• Qatar — 36th of 36: 0.11%

What this measures

Food comprises the commodities in SITC (Rev. 3) sections 0 (food and live animals), 1 (beverages and tobacco), and 4 (animal and vegetable oils and fats) and division 22 (oil seeds, oil nuts, and oil kernels). 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 26 values

Food exports (% of merchandise exports) in nearby economies

• Afghanistan — 63.85% (2019)
• Algeria — 0.54% (2024)
• Bahrain — 8.65% (2024)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 21.58% (2025)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 5.65% (2023)
• Israel — 2.18% (2025)
• Jordan — 17.64% (2024)
• Kuwait — 0.59% (2025)
• Lebanon — 19.09% (2024)
• Libya — 0.1% (2019)
• Malta

More private sector & trade data for Iraq

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 70.02% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$85.19 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$92.91 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise imports) — 8.71% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 26.9% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 68.23% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in East Asia & Pacific (% of total merchandise imports) — 31.77% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in Middle East & North Africa (% of total merchandise imports)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Iraq's food exports (% of merchandise exports)?

0.53% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1963?

It is down 3.44 percentage points from 3.96% in 1963. The highest value was 51.9% in 1973 and the lowest 0.000809% in 2016.

How does Iraq rank?

35th highest of 36 economies with data for 2024.

Is the latest change in food exports (% of merchandise exports) unusual for Iraq?

In 2024, Iraq's food exports (% of merchandise exports) fell 0.01 percentage points on 2023 (from 0.54% to 0.53%). Across the 20 yearly changes before that (1973 to 2023), the average change was −0.86 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 3.49 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator TX.VAL.FOOD.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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