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Promote:New Caledonia

Export from New Caledonia

A short guide for companies selling from New Caledonia: the export figures, the agreements and their limits, the main steps and who can help, each with its source.

1. What New Caledonia sells, and who buys it

Top goods exports

2025

  1. 1. Nickel hydroxide cake (NHC)
  2. 2. Ferronickel
  3. 3. Nickel ore
  4. 4. Shrimp
  5. 5. Farm and livestock products
  6. 6. Essential oils
  7. 7. Nickel oxide (NiO)
  8. 8. Tuna
Show 4 more products
  1. 9. Sea cucumbers
  2. 10. Live products
  3. 11. Other nickel residues
  4. 12. Other seafood and aquaculture products
  • The ranking is ISEE's list of principal product families, not HS headings; it includes re-exports, and ISEE marks it provisional until August of the next year. Source⁠ (opens in a new tab)
  • The catch-all line Autres, 8.2 percent of 2025 exports (11,134,947.9 thousand CFP francs), is in the total but not ranked. Source⁠ (opens in a new tab)
  • UN Comtrade's latest annual data for the territory end in 2015, so Comtrade is not used; the ranking comes from ISEE's own tables. Source⁠ (opens in a new tab)
  • ISEE's summary places re-exports, such as vehicles and equipment, in its other-products total of 11.1 billion CFP francs, which is not ranked. Source⁠ (opens in a new tab)
  • Nickel ore, ferronickel, nickel hydroxide cake, nickel oxide and nickel residues are extractive or plant-scale intermediates whatever ISEE's labels, so none is a picker line. Source⁠ (opens in a new tab)

Source: ISEE, exports by product family and customer, 2020-2025 (in French)⁠ (opens in a new tab) · as of 2025

Where the goods go

2025, share of goods exports

  • China49.5%
  • South Korea11.3%
  • Hong Kong9.8%
  • Japan7%
  • Taiwan4.4%
  • European Union, excluding metropolitan France4.3%
  • India4%
  • United States3.7%
  • ISEE groups European Union members other than metropolitan France in one line, shown with ISEE's own label; no member is shown separately. Source⁠ (opens in a new tab)

Source: ISEE, exports by product family and customer, 2020-2025 (in French)⁠ (opens in a new tab) · as of 2025

  • Only four lines reach 0.5 percent of 2025 exports (nickel hydroxide cake, ferronickel, nickel ore and shrimp), and nickel products are 90.0 percent of the total. Source⁠ (opens in a new tab)

2. What to look into next

Our reading

Promote:Global’s reading of the figures above, not a source’s statement, and not advice.

3. Trade agreements

What each arrangement can mean for a seller, and its limits. A preference is conditional: check the rules of origin before you quote.

  • Association of the overseas countries and territories with the European Union (Council Decision (EU) 2021/1764)

    Goods originating in New Caledonia enter the European Union free of import duty, and sellers self-certify origin through REX.

    Rules-based preference: the origin rules of Annex II apply, and the European Union keeps health and public policy restrictions.

    Source: Council of the European Union, Decision 2021/1764, Official Journal text⁠ (opens in a new tab) · as of October 7, 2021

  • Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus (PACER Plus)

    New Caledonia is not among the signatories the Government lists, so a seller cannot claim PACER Plus treatment.

    The Government page names Australia, New Zealand and eight island states as signatories.

    Source: SCRRE, page on PACER Plus (in French)⁠ (opens in a new tab) · as of November 1, 2026

  • Melanesian Spearhead Group Trade Agreement

    A New Caledonian seller cannot claim its preferences: the Government's page names Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Fiji as its parties.

    The FLNKS, a New Caledonian political movement, belongs to the Melanesian Spearhead Group, but the page does not name it as a party to the trade agreement.

    Source: SCRRE, Melanesian Spearhead trade agreement page (in French)⁠ (opens in a new tab) · as of November 1, 2026

4. Steps to export

The main steps, in order, each with the body responsible and its official page.

Exporting from New Caledonia

  1. Register the company in New Caledonia's RIDET register through a business formalities center or the online Guichet entreprises.Centres de formalités des entreprises (CCI, CMA, CAP-NC)Official page⁠ (opens in a new tab)

    Source: ISEE, RIDET registration steps, September 2025 (in French)⁠ (opens in a new tab) · as of September 8, 2025

  2. Declare the activity for the patente, a New Caledonian tax that is not an authorization to operate.Direction des Services FiscauxOfficial page⁠ (opens in a new tab)

    Source: DSF, business license tax (patente) (in French)⁠ (opens in a new tab) · as of November 1, 2026

  3. Check whether the goods need a New Caledonian export authorization: mining and metallurgy products, explosives or radioactive substances.Direction de l’Industrie, des Mines et de l’ÉnergieOfficial page⁠ (opens in a new tab)

    Source: DIMENC, online import and export authorizations, January 2026 (in French)⁠ (opens in a new tab) · as of January 19, 2026

  4. For food and plant products, request the New Caledonian sanitary or phytosanitary export certificate.Direction des Affaires Vétérinaires, Alimentaires et Rurales24 hours ahead for air freight, 48 hours for sea freightOfficial page⁠ (opens in a new tab)

    Source: DAVAR, food export conditions and certificates (in French)⁠ (opens in a new tab) · as of November 1, 2026

Show 4 more export steps
  1. For sales to the European Union or other overseas territories, register for REX and self-certify origin under the European Union's OCT association rules.Direction des Douanes de Nouvelle-CalédonieOfficial page⁠ (opens in a new tab)

    Source: New Caledonia customs, preferential origin and REX (in French)⁠ (opens in a new tab) · as of November 1, 2026

  2. Declare the shipment in SYDONIA World under New Caledonia's customs code, after requesting a login from customs.Direction des Douanes de Nouvelle-CalédonieOfficial page⁠ (opens in a new tab)

    Source: New Caledonia customs, SYDONIA World clearance system (in French)⁠ (opens in a new tab) · as of November 1, 2026

  3. If you export mineral products, file the declaration and pay New Caledonia's mining export tax.Direction des Services FiscauxNo tax below XPF 5,700 per wet metric tonOfficial page⁠ (opens in a new tab)

    Source: DSF, tax on mineral product exports (in French)⁠ (opens in a new tab) · as of February 12, 2026

  4. Claim New Caledonia's export expense tax reduction in the tax return.Direction des Services Fiscaux50 percent of eligible expensesOfficial page⁠ (opens in a new tab)

    Source: DSF, export expense tax reduction (in French)⁠ (opens in a new tab) · as of November 1, 2026

5. Organizations that help exporters

Start with SCRRE and DRDNC. Each card links to the organization’s own site.

Each card says what it can help with:Get adviceFind financeMeet requirementsResearch markets

Export development and market information

Show 2 more organizations

Customs and tax

Standards and sector requirements

Chambers and industry associations

Show 2 more organizations

6. Worth knowing

7. How Promote:Global helps

  • Compare potential export marketsSee which markets import what you sell, ranked on public trade data, and read each country before you commit.
  • Check duties and document requirementsCheck the duty, the origin conditions for a preferential rate and the documents a shipment needs.
  • Find advisors and service firmsAsk an advisory firm a scoped, paid question, or browse firms that list their own services, from legal work to logistics.
  • Organize your next stepsKeep each product and market in a project, with a roadmap of steps you work through.

Turn this guide into your New Caledonia project.

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Promote:New Caledonia is an independent guide by Promote:Global, not an official government portal. The organizations named here are independent public and membership bodies, not Promote:Global partners, and every link goes to their own site.

Facts read from public sources, with an editorial cut-off of November 1, 2026. Nothing here is investment, legal, tax or sanctions advice. Check current status with the organization before you rely on it.