Benin’s merchandise exports reached US$3,772 million in 2024, according to the UNCTAD General Profile 2024. The country’s export economy is closely connected to raw materials: WITS Trade Summary 2023 recorded raw materials at US$763 million, or 72.51% of the export total reported there. Cotton was the largest individually quantified product in the supplied trade records, while Bangladesh was the leading named destination in 2023.
Contents
- Merchandise exports over time
- Imports and the trade balance
- What Benin exports
- Export destinations
- Cotton and cotton-seed markets
- Other agricultural exports
- Services, tariffs and economic context
Merchandise exports over time
The UNCTAD General Profile 2024 places Benin’s merchandise exports at US$578 million in 2005, US$1,282 million in 2010, US$1,682 million in 2015 and US$3,772 million in 2024. These are merchandise values measured in current US dollars and reported for the named years. They show a substantially larger export value in 2024 than in the earlier reference years, although the series does not by itself explain the causes of the changes.
The most recent year-to-year figures point to a decline after a stronger 2023. UNCTAD’s General Profile 2023 recorded merchandise exports of US$4,050 million in 2023 and an export growth rate of +8.9%. The General Profile 2024 recorded US$3,772 million in 2024 and a growth rate of -6.9%. The two growth observations are retained with their respective profile years and should not be treated as a single estimate.
| Measure | Earlier year | Later year |
|---|---|---|
| Merchandise exports | US$578 million in 2005 | US$3,772 million in 2024 |
| Merchandise exports | US$1,282 million in 2010 | US$4,050 million in 2023 |
| Reported export growth | Not supplied for 2005 | -6.9% in 2024 |
The UNCTAD General Profile 2024 also reports Benin’s 2024 GDP at US$21,183 million. Population was 14.463 million, the exchange rate was 606.344 XOF per US$1, consumer-price growth was 6.20%, and real GDP growth was 6.35%. These indicators provide the measurement-year context for the 2024 export figure; they do not convert merchandise exports into a forecast or a per-person measure.
Imports and the trade balance
Benin imported US$1,018 million of merchandise in 2005, US$2,054 million in 2010, US$2,561 million in 2015 and US$5,230 million in 2024, according to the UNCTAD General Profile 2024. The same source reports merchandise imports of US$5,252 million in 2023. Merchandise imports therefore remained above merchandise exports in both of the latest UNCTAD profile years.
UNCTAD recorded a merchandise trade balance of -US$1,201 million in 2023 and -US$1,458 million in 2024. WITS Trade Summary 2023 reports a separate trade balance of -US$916.00 million, equal to -4.66% of GDP, and total trade at 44.66% of GDP. The WITS summary also gives GDP as US$19,673 million in 2023. These measures are kept under their source labels because the reported totals and classifications differ.
WITS reports total exports on a free-on-board basis at US$1,052 million in 2023 and total imports on a cost-insurance-freight basis at US$3,905 million. The same summary records 761 HS6 products exported to 101 countries. On the import side, Benin imported 3,125 HS6 products from 144 countries. The HS6 product and country counts describe the breadth of the WITS 2023 trade record, not the number of firms or shipments.
What Benin exports
The WITS Trade Summary 2023 divides the recorded export value into four broad goods categories. Raw materials were US$763 million, with a 72.51% share. Intermediate goods were US$139 million, or 13.25%. Consumer goods were US$94 million, or 8.95%. Capital goods were US$46 million, or 4.36%.
Raw materials therefore represented the largest reported category by both value and share. The figures supplied for individual products add detail to that pattern. Cotton, not carded or combed, was exported at US$504,688.93 thousand and 239,071,000 kilograms in 2023. Cashew nuts, fresh or dried, reached US$112,022.47 thousand and 136,706,000 kilograms. Soya beans were US$91,456.49 thousand and 168,704,000 kilograms.
Other product records were smaller in value but still quantify the range of agricultural goods in the 2023 export record. Cotton seeds were US$24,836.69 thousand and 130,010,000 kilograms. Oil-cake and other solid residues of cotton were US$17,712.47 thousand and 73,878,800 kilograms. Sesame seeds were US$261.16 thousand and 698,072 kilograms. Maize, excluding seed, was US$442.19 thousand and 1,472,100 kilograms. These product values and quantities come from the corresponding WITS product records.
Export destinations
WITS Trade Summary 2023 identifies five leading named destinations in the supplied data. Benin exported US$391 million to Bangladesh, representing a 37.20% partner share. India received US$162 million, or 15.41%. Pakistan received US$76 million, or 7.21%. Togo received US$57 million, or 5.45%, and China received US$55 million, or 5.27%.
| Destination | Benin exports in 2023 | Partner share |
|---|---|---|
| Bangladesh | US$391 million | 37.20% |
| India | US$162 million | 15.41% |
| Pakistan | US$76 million | 7.21% |
| Togo | US$57 million | 5.45% |
| China | US$55 million | 5.27% |
The partner shares are source-reported percentages. They indicate the share assigned to each named partner in the WITS summary and are not used here to derive a new total. The country count of 101 export destinations is also a WITS 2023 measure, so the five destinations above should be read as the largest named partners in the supplied selection rather than a complete list of every market.
Bangladesh was especially important for unprocessed cotton. WITS cotton exports 2023 records US$391,163.46 thousand and 186,163,000 kilograms of Beninese cotton, not carded or combed, sent to Bangladesh. Other destinations for that product were China at US$31,943.38 thousand and 16,050,200 kilograms; Egypt, Arab Rep. at US$26,657.16 thousand and 11,251,400 kilograms; Pakistan at US$23,242.04 thousand and 10,739,700 kilograms; and Vietnam at US$7,511.68 thousand and 3,874,120 kilograms.
Cotton and cotton-seed markets
Cotton was the largest product value in the supplied WITS product records. Its overall 2023 export value was US$504,688.93 thousand, with a recorded quantity of 239,071,000 kilograms. The destination detail shows that Bangladesh accounted for a major portion of the listed cotton value and volume, while China, Egypt, Pakistan and Vietnam were also recorded as destination markets.
Cotton seeds had a different destination pattern. The overall WITS cotton-seed record shows US$24,836.69 thousand and 130,010,000 kilograms exported in 2023. Togo received US$16,511.22 thousand and 87,819,500 kilograms. Mali received US$2,874.84 thousand and 14,764,000 kilograms, while Burkina Faso received US$2,552.49 thousand and 12,451,000 kilograms.
Additional cotton-seed destinations in the WITS cotton seeds exports 2023 record were Saudi Arabia, at US$1,451.24 thousand and 8,003,370 kilograms; Turkey, at US$1,011.71 thousand and 4,910,360 kilograms; Niger, at US$279.28 thousand and 1,540,220 kilograms; Nigeria, at US$94.11 thousand and 519,000 kilograms; and the United Arab Emirates, at US$61.81 thousand and 2,500 kilograms. These observations describe the product-specific trade record for 2023.
Other agricultural exports
Cashew nuts, fresh or dried, were valued at US$112,022.47 thousand in the WITS cashew exports 2023 record, with a quantity of 136,706,000 kilograms. Soya beans were valued at US$91,456.49 thousand and 168,704,000 kilograms in the WITS soya beans exports 2023 record. Together with cotton and cotton seeds, these figures show several substantial agricultural product lines alongside the broader raw-materials category in the WITS summary.
The sesame-seed record was much smaller: US$261.16 thousand and 698,072 kilograms in 2023. China received US$135.74 thousand and 465,020 kilograms, Burkina Faso received US$98.12 thousand and 150,800 kilograms, Togo received US$14.04 thousand and 41,040 kilograms, India received US$12.76 thousand and 38,700 kilograms, and France received US$0.41 thousand and 500 kilograms. Each destination figure is from WITS sesamum seeds exports 2023.
Maize excluding seed was recorded at US$442.19 thousand and 1,472,100 kilograms, while oil-cake and other solid residues of cotton were recorded at US$17,712.47 thousand and 73,878,800 kilograms. The different values and quantities underline that the export profile includes both high-value and lower-value product lines; no ranking beyond the supplied figures is assumed here.
Services, tariffs and economic context
Goods are not the only export category reported for Benin. The UNCTAD General Profile 2024 records services exports of US$495 million and services imports of US$1,413 million in 2024, producing a services trade balance of -US$918 million. Within services exports, travel services represented 43.6%, transport services 30.3%, and other services 26.2%.
Those shares are percentages of services exports for 2024, while the product, partner and goods-category figures above are primarily 2023 WITS observations or 2024 UNCTAD merchandise observations. Keeping the years visible matters when comparing goods and services: the measures are not one single same-year table.
WITS Trade Summary 2023 reports a maximum tariff rate of 35%, a simple average tariff of 11.18%, and a trade-weighted average tariff of 10.67. Duty-free imports were US$630,003.46 thousand, and the duty-free tariff-line share was 21.05%. These are tariff and import indicators for 2023, not export values or forecasts.
For readers using export statistics to understand travel-document or cross-border context, the clearest distinction is between merchandise, services and partner data. Merchandise exports were US$3,772 million in the UNCTAD 2024 profile; WITS supplied the more detailed 2023 product, destination and HS6 measures; and UNCTAD reported a 2024 services-export value of US$495 million. The source labels and measurement periods should remain attached to each figure when these indicators are reused.