From a continental perspective, Asian suppliers generated the highest portion of worldwide cotton exports at approaching two-thirds (about 62%) of the global total. Sources in North America accounted for 15.8% trailed by suppliers in Europe at 11.1%. Smaller percentages came from Latin America (6%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Africa (3.8%) then Oceania (2.1%) mainly Australia.
For research purposes, the two-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for cotton is 52. This broad classification includes raw cotton, cotton yarn, thread and woven fabrics.
Top Cotton Exports by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of cotton during 2019.
- China: US$14.1 billion (26.6% of total cotton exports)
- United States: $7.9 billion (14.8%)
- India: $6.3 billion (11.8%)
- Vietnam: $2.9 billion (5.5%)
- Brazil: $2.8 billion (5.2%)
- Pakistan: $1.8 billion (3.3%)
- Turkey: $1.7 billion (3.1%)
- Italy: $1.3 billion (2.4%)
- Hong Kong: $1.1 billion (2.1%)
- Australia: $1.1 billion (2.1%)
- Uzbekistan: $1.1 billion (2%)
- Germany: $819.9 million (1.5%)
- Spain: $683.6 million (1.3%)
- Indonesia: $663.6 million (1.2%)
- Greece: $636.7 million (1.2%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 84.2% of globally exported cotton in 2019.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing cotton exporters since 2015 were: Brazil (up 91.9%), Vietnam (up 72.3%), Greece (up 67.3%) and United States (up 34.6%).
Those countries that posted declines in their exported cotton sales were led by: Pakistan (down -56.6%), Hong Kong (down -52.7%), Indonesia (down -19.4%), Germany (down -16.5%) and India (down -16.2%).
Advantages
The following countries recorded the highest positive net exports for cotton during 2019. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s exported cotton and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- United States: US$7 billion (net export surplus up 47.7% since 2015)
- India: $5 billion (down -27.5%)
- China: $4.9 billion (down -11.5%)
- Brazil: $2.7 billion (up 108.6%)
- Australia: $1.1 billion (up 39%)
- Uzbekistan: $1 billion (no 2015 data)
- Greece: $555.3 million (up 78.5%)
- Benin: $445.9 million (up 88.7%)
- Burkina Faso: $353.1 million (up 17.6%)
- Spain: $265.1 million (up 48.6%)
- Italy: $236.5 million (up 30%)
- Turkmenistan: $212.4 million (down -62.6%)
- Tajikistan: $177.7 million (up 15.5%)
- Austria: $165.7 million (up 177%)
- Azerbaijan: $152.3 million (up 784.8%)
The United States, India and China posted the highest surpluses in the international trade of cotton. In turn, these positive cashflows confirm these leading countries’ strong competitive advantages for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for cotton during 2019. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s imported cotton purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- Bangladesh: -US$5.4 billion (net export deficit down -24.1% since 2015)
- Vietnam: -$1.7 billion (up 2.5%)
- Indonesia: -$1.1 billion (down -16%)
- Turkey: -$956.8 million (up 70.4%)
- Honduras: -$817.7 million (up 14204.6%)
- Cambodia: -$630.7 million (up 66%)
- South Korea: -$601.7 million (down -14.1%)
- Sri Lanka: -$512.3 million (down -3.3%)
- Russia: -$495 million (up 36%)
- Morocco: -$449.5 million (up 0.5%)
- Portugal: -$417.9 million (up 2.1%)
- Colombia: -$406.3 million (up 4.3%)
- Myanmar (Burma): -$391 million (up 855.7%)
- Tunisia: -$353.8 million (down -36.6%)
- Egypt: -$350.5 million (up 61.9%)
A world leader manufacturing apparel, Bangladesh incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of cotton–a key component for making a wide range of clothing and related articles. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights Bangladesh’s strong competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for cotton-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful Bangladeshi demand.
Searchable List of Cotton Exporting Countries in 2019
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of any of the columns below. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means no 2018 data was available.
| Rank | Exporter | Exported Cotton (US$) | 2018-9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | China | $14,142,823,000 | -8.1% |
| 2. | United States | $7,905,838,000 | -5.6% |
| 3. | India | $6,261,658,000 | -22.8% |
| 4. | Vietnam | $2,941,432,000 | +3.5% |
| 5. | Brazil | $2,781,188,000 | +60.5% |
| 6. | Pakistan | $1,751,900,000 | -50.2% |
| 7. | Turkey | $1,654,127,000 | -9.5% |
| 8. | Italy | $1,294,737,000 | -8.6% |
| 9. | Hong Kong | $1,110,265,000 | -23.2% |
| 10. | Australia | $1,108,676,000 | -39% |
| 11. | Uzbekistan | $1,081,421,000 | +5% |
| 12. | Germany | $819,894,000 | -13.3% |
| 13. | Spain | $683,623,000 | +1.1% |
| 14. | Indonesia | $663,595,000 | -18.2% |
| 15. | Greece | $636,725,000 | +39% |
| 16. | Mexico | $509,668,000 | +48% |
| 17. | Benin | $466,899,000 | +1.4% |
| 18. | Thailand | $443,075,000 | -9.5% |
| 19. | Austria | $433,805,000 | +2.7% |
| 20. | Japan | $426,956,000 | -4.7% |
| 21. | South Korea | $400,471,000 | -11.6% |
| 22. | Taiwan | $391,621,000 | -15.8% |
| 23. | Egypt | $374,143,000 | -22.4% |
| 24. | Burkina Faso | $355,254,000 | +9.8% |
| 25. | Netherlands | $352,288,000 | -4.1% |
| 26. | Malaysia | $333,838,000 | -7.5% |
| 27. | Belgium | $284,112,000 | -11.3% |
| 28. | France | $270,915,000 | -13.4% |
| 29. | Turkmenistan | $213,197,000 | -31.2% |
| 30. | United Kingdom | $201,769,000 | -0.2% |
| 31. | Tajikistan | $182,203,000 | -11.1% |
| 32. | Portugal | $173,016,000 | -12.2% |
| 33. | Azerbaijan | $158,469,000 | +46.3% |
| 34. | Switzerland | $143,210,000 | -12% |
| 35. | Czech Republic | $129,287,000 | -8.1% |
| 36. | Argentina | $123,939,000 | -26.3% |
| 37. | Ivory Coast | $123,797,000 | -60.2% |
| 38. | Kazakhstan | $112,884,000 | +10.7% |
| 39. | Mali | $93,790,000 | -5.3% |
| 40. | El Salvador | $79,316,000 | +2% |
| 41. | Sudan | $77,625,000 | -33.5% |
| 42. | Free Zones | $66,664,000 | -22.2% |
| 43. | Bangladesh | $66,349,000 | +68.7% |
| 44. | Cameroon | $61,914,000 | +21.1% |
| 45. | South Africa | $61,484,000 | -2.2% |
| 46. | Mauritius | $59,284,000 | +32.1% |
| 47. | Russia | $57,249,000 | +7% |
| 48. | Hungary | $57,187,000 | -15.5% |
| 49. | Togo | $56,963,000 | +1.6% |
| 50. | Guatemala | $54,440,000 | +4.9% |
| 51. | Romania | $53,289,000 | -26.7% |
| 52. | Zambia | $53,159,000 | +8.9% |
| 53. | Poland | $52,137,000 | -6.7% |
| 54. | Israel | $42,880,000 | -14.4% |
| 55. | Zimbabwe | $41,624,000 | -44.8% |
| 56. | Mozambique | $40,685,000 | +391.8% |
| 57. | Kyrgyzstan | $36,605,000 | -2.7% |
| 58. | Slovenia | $36,458,000 | -12.6% |
| 59. | Costa Rica | $36,049,000 | +3% |
| 60. | Denmark | $35,740,000 | -2.2% |
| 61. | Morocco | $35,059,000 | -9.8% |
| 62. | Bulgaria | $34,027,000 | +1.2% |
| 63. | Bahrain | $33,399,000 | -43.5% |
| 64. | Lithuania | $32,565,000 | -6.8% |
| 65. | Peru | $28,796,000 | -22.9% |
| 66. | Singapore | $28,062,000 | -23.5% |
| 67. | Tanzania | $26,601,000 | -69% |
| 68. | Belarus | $24,262,000 | -19.3% |
| 69. | Canada | $22,596,000 | +6.4% |
| 70. | Ecuador | $21,740,000 | -30.8% |
| 71. | Lesotho | $20,392,000 | -20.7% |
| 72. | Moldova | $19,411,000 | +1,736% |
| 73. | Colombia | $17,860,000 | -20.5% |
| 74. | Honduras | $17,299,000 | +787.1% |
| 75. | Uganda | $17,234,000 | -64% |
| 76. | Tunisia | $17,208,000 | -21.4% |
| 77. | North Macedonia | $14,484,000 | +12.1% |
| 78. | Senegal | $12,042,000 | -8.6% |
| 79. | Croatia | $10,367,000 | -33% |
| 80. | Myanmar (Burma) | $10,193,000 | -18.6% |
| 81. | United Arab Emirates | $10,129,000 | -81.8% |
| 82. | Sweden | $10,065,000 | -38.7% |
| 83. | Finland | $9,581,000 | +4.3% |
| 84. | Nicaragua | $8,859,000 | -17.6% |
| 85. | Ethiopia | $8,832,000 | -44.3% |
| 86. | Latvia | $7,529,000 | -17.8% |
| 87. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $7,444,000 | -13.4% |
| 88. | Sri Lanka | $6,606,000 | -44.4% |
| 89. | Serbia | $6,302,000 | -18.6% |
| 90. | Paraguay | $6,276,000 | -21.4% |
| 91. | Algeria | $5,894,000 | +189.3% |
| 92. | Nigeria | $5,597,000 | -20.5% |
| 93. | Slovakia | $5,458,000 | -9.7% |
| 94. | Estonia | $4,881,000 | -8.1% |
| 95. | Norway | $4,631,000 | +9.6% |
| 96. | Ghana | $4,163,000 | -42.2% |
| 97. | Afghanistan | $4,096,000 | -75.6% |
| 98. | Curaçao | $3,859,000 | +897.2% |
| 99. | Kenya | $3,775,000 | +178.4% |
| 100. | Madagascar | $3,429,000 | +61% |
| 101. | Oman | $3,335,000 | +26.6% |
| 102. | Syria | $2,239,000 | -89.9% |
| 103. | Guinea | $2,183,000 | -8.2% |
| 104. | Philippines | $2,139,000 | +17.3% |
| 105. | Malawi | $1,913,000 | -69.3% |
| 106. | Venezuela | $1,811,000 | -74.1% |
| 107. | Ukraine | $1,700,000 | -37.1% |
| 108. | New Zealand | $1,516,000 | +11.2% |
| 109. | Eswatini | $1,479,000 | +180.1% |
| 110. | Chad | $1,419,000 | -84.6% |
| 111. | Central African Rep | $1,368,000 | +36.9% |
| 112. | Saudi Arabia | $1,107,000 | -64.8% |
| 113. | Niger | $1,094,000 | -98.3% |
| 114. | Georgia | $967,000 | +486.1% |
| 115. | Cambodia | $956,000 | -23% |
| 116. | Guinea-Bissau | $947,000 | 0% |
| 117. | Chile | $936,000 | +9.3% |
| 118. | Albania | $768,000 | -14.2% |
| 119. | Jamaica | $660,000 | +102.5% |
| 120. | Iran | $615,000 | -79.1% |
| 121. | Panama | $567,000 | -66.7% |
| 122. | Tokelau | $379,000 | +178.7% |
| 123. | North Korea | $367,000 | +2,059% |
| 124. | Uruguay | $325,000 | +85.7% |
| 125. | Macao | $299,000 | 0% |
| 126. | Ireland | $292,000 | -40.2% |
| 127. | Dominican Republic | $287,000 | -99.8% |
| 128. | Bolivia | $195,000 | +6.6% |
| 129. | British Virgin Is | $192,000 | +2,643% |
| 130. | Laos | $162,000 | +458.6% |
| 131. | Belize | $152,000 | -31.2% |
| 132. | Nepal | $146,000 | -33.6% |
| 133. | Haiti | $138,000 | -91.9% |
| 134. | Lebanon | $92,000 | -90.1% |
| 135. | Namibia | $62,000 | -37.4% |
| 136. | Mauritania | $55,000 | 0% |
| 137. | Barbados | $55,000 | -64.5% |
| 138. | Fiji | $44,000 | -97.3% |
| 139. | French Polynesia | $42,000 | +147.1% |
| 140. | Luxembourg | $40,000 | +110.5% |
| 141. | Trinidad/Tobago | $39,000 | -56.7% |
| 142. | Gambia | $33,000 | 0% |
| 143. | Sierra Leone | $30,000 | 0% |
| 144. | Armenia | $23,000 | -97.9% |
| 145. | Jordan | $21,000 | -96.3% |
| 146. | Timor-Leste | $21,000 | 0% |
| 147. | Cyprus | $18,000 | +12.5% |
| 148. | Suriname | $17,000 | -43.3% |
| 149. | Democratic Rep. Congo | $16,000 | -92.6% |
| 150. | Kuwait | $15,000 | -96.0% |
| 151. | US Minor Outlying Is | $13,000 | -82.7% |
| 152. | Eritrea | $11,000 | -97.9% |
| 153. | Guyana | $9,000 | +800% |
| 154. | Andorra | $8,000 | 0% |
| 155. | St Kitts/Nevis | $8,000 | 0% |
| 156. | Northern Mariana Is | $7,000 | 0% |
| 157. | Malta | $6,000 | +500% |
| 158. | Mongolia | $5,000 | 0% |
| 159. | Liberia | $5,000 | 0% |
| 160. | Iraq | $4,000 | +100% |
| 161. | Botswana | $4,000 | -84% |
| 162. | Qatar | $4,000 | -90.2% |
| 163. | Seychelles | $4,000 | 0% |
| 164. | Djibouti | $3,000 | -98.9% |
| 165. | Cayman Islands | $2,000 | 0% |
| 166. | Yemen | $2,000 | -33.3% |
| 167. | Burundi | $1,000 | -98.7% |
| 168. | Greenland | $1,000 | 0% |
| 169. | Equatorial Guinea | $1,000 | 0% |
| 170. | Iceland | $1,000 | 0% |
| 171. | Maldives | $1,000 | 0% |
| 172. | Aruba | $1,000 | 0% |
| 173. | Marshall Islands | $1,000 | 0% |
See also Cotton Imports by Country, T-shirt Exports by Country, Leather Shoes Exports by Country and Top Exported Baby Clothing Sales
Research Sources:
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on April 30, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on April 30, 2020
Wikipedia, Cotton. Accessed on April 30, 2020