Pacific island small states: Agricultural raw materials exports (% of merchandise exports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2018, Pacific island small states' agricultural raw materials exports (% of merchandise exports) rose 5.93 percentage points on 2017 (from 20.39% to 26.32%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1973 to 2017), the average change was +0.24 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 3.41 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.7 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 7.36 percentage points in 2005 and the biggest yearly fall was 6.41 percentage points in 2015. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2009 to 2018 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 29% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

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

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

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 35 values

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

• Afghanistan — 21.04% (2019)
• Algeria — 0.05% (2024)
• Bahrain — 0.14% (2024)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 1.02% (2025)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 0.26% (2023)
• Iraq — 0.00781% (2024)
• Israel — 0.49% (2025)
• Jordan — 0.32% (2024)
• Kuwait — 0.03% (2025)

More private sector & trade data for Pacific island small states

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 66.16% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$6.45 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$2.15 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 75.14% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0.000000000000000234% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$25.44 billion (2023)
• Merchandise exports to high-income economies (% of total merchandise exports) — 53.25% (2023)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Pacific island small states's agricultural raw materials exports (% of merchandise exports)?

26.32% in 2018, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1970?

It is up 13.21 percentage points from 13.11% in 1970. The highest value was 27.45% in 2005 and the lowest 7.79% in 1978.

Is the latest change in agricultural raw materials exports (% of merchandise exports) unusual for Pacific island small states?

In 2018, Pacific island small states' agricultural raw materials exports (% of merchandise exports) rose 5.93 percentage points on 2017 (from 20.39% to 26.32%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1973 to 2017), the average change was +0.24 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 3.41 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.7 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

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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