Merchandise trade in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea: Merchandise trade was 62.0% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Merchandise trade in Papua New Guinea, 1960–2025
Source: World Trade Organization (WTO). Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
Papua New Guinea recorded 62.0% for merchandise trade in 2025.
That represents a change of up 0.6% on the previous year and up 22.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, merchandise trade in Papua New Guinea peaked at 107.8% in 2004 and was at its lowest, 40.6%, in 1962.
Papua New Guinea ranks 79th of 204 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 66 years of available data.
Merchandise trade in Papua New Guinea, year by year
| Year | % of GDP | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 42.5% | — |
| 1961 | 42.1% | -1.1% |
| 1962 | 40.6% | -3.5% |
| 1963 | 44.6% | +9.8% |
| 1964 | 47.8% | +7.3% |
| 1965 | 52.9% | +10.6% |
| 1966 | 52.7% | -0.4% |
| 1967 | 55.5% | +5.3% |
| 1968 | 53.6% | -3.4% |
| 1969 | 58.2% | +8.7% |
| 1970 | 62.9% | +8.0% |
| 1971 | 66.3% | +5.5% |
| 1972 | 64.5% | -2.7% |
| 1973 | 67.0% | +3.9% |
| 1974 | 79.9% | +19.1% |
| 1975 | 76.1% | -4.7% |
| 1976 | 69.7% | -8.5% |
| 1977 | 80.8% | +15.9% |
| 1978 | 76.2% | -5.7% |
| 1979 | 81.4% | +6.8% |
| 1980 | 86.7% | +6.5% |
| 1981 | 84.0% | -3.1% |
| 1982 | 81.9% | -2.5% |
| 1983 | 75.4% | -7.9% |
| 1984 | 78.4% | +4.0% |
| 1985 | 79.2% | +1.0% |
| 1986 | 79.8% | +0.7% |
| 1987 | 74.0% | -7.3% |
| 1988 | 76.4% | +3.2% |
| 1989 | 82.7% | +8.3% |
| 1990 | 73.6% | -11.0% |
| 1991 | 81.2% | +10.3% |
| 1992 | 77.9% | -4.0% |
| 1993 | 78.1% | +0.2% |
| 1994 | 75.5% | -3.3% |
| 1995 | 88.6% | +17.3% |
| 1996 | 82.8% | -6.5% |
| 1997 | 78.5% | -5.3% |
| 1998 | 79.5% | +1.3% |
| 1999 | 88.1% | +10.8% |
| 2000 | 92.2% | +4.7% |
| 2001 | 93.3% | +1.2% |
| 2002 | 92.6% | -0.8% |
| 2003 | 101.1% | +9.1% |
| 2004 | 107.8% | +6.6% |
| 2005 | 102.8% | -4.6% |
| 2006 | 73.6% | -28.4% |
| 2007 | 76.5% | +3.9% |
| 2008 | 75.7% | -1.1% |
| 2009 | 62.5% | -17.4% |
| 2010 | 65.0% | +4.1% |
| 2011 | 62.2% | -4.4% |
| 2012 | 52.0% | -16.3% |
| 2013 | 53.4% | +2.7% |
| 2014 | 55.1% | +3.2% |
| 2015 | 50.7% | -8.1% |
| 2016 | 49.4% | -2.4% |
| 2017 | 57.2% | +15.7% |
| 2018 | 58.2% | +1.8% |
| 2019 | 60.9% | +4.6% |
| 2020 | 53.1% | -12.8% |
| 2021 | 58.2% | +9.7% |
| 2022 | 64.7% | +11.2% |
| 2023 | 59.2% | -8.6% |
| 2024 | 61.7% | +4.2% |
| 2025 | 62.0% | +0.6% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 49.0% | 40.6% | 58.2% | 10 |
| 1970s | 72.5% | 62.9% | 81.4% | 10 |
| 1980s | 79.9% | 74.0% | 86.7% | 10 |
| 1990s | 80.4% | 73.6% | 88.6% | 10 |
| 2000s | 87.8% | 62.5% | 107.8% | 10 |
| 2010s | 56.4% | 49.4% | 65.0% | 10 |
| 2020s | 59.8% | 53.1% | 64.7% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Papua New Guinea
More private sector data for Papua New Guinea
- Food imports 16.5% (2023)
- Manufactures imports 64.7% (2023)
- Merchandise imports 4.62 billion current US$ (2025)
- Food exports 19.7% (2023)
- Manufactures exports 1.8% (2023)
- Merchandise exports 15.54 billion current US$ (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per capita 1,444 current US$ per person (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per unit of GDP 0.4782 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), annual growth rate 11.21 % change on previous year (2025)
- Merchandise imports (current US$), per capita 429.26 current US$ per person (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is merchandise trade in Papua New Guinea?
- Merchandise trade in Papua New Guinea was 62.0% in 2025, according to World Trade Organization (WTO).
- What is the highest merchandise trade recorded in Papua New Guinea?
- The highest recorded value was 107.8% in 2004.
- What is the lowest merchandise trade recorded in Papua New Guinea?
- The lowest recorded value was 40.6% in 1962.
- How does Papua New Guinea rank for merchandise trade?
- Papua New Guinea ranks 79th out of 204 countries with data for 2025.
- Is merchandise trade rising or falling in Papua New Guinea?
- Over the last ten years it is up 22.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Papua New Guinea data come from?
- The figures come from World Trade Organization (WTO), published as part of Merchandise trade (% of GDP). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 66 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
General merchandise trade includes 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. It is the total of merchandise exports plus merchandise imports. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total income earned through the production of goods and services in an economic territory during an accounting period.