Overall, the value of exported ice cream rose by an average 26.6% for all exporting countries since 2015 when ice cream shipments were valued at $3.3 billion. Year over year, the value of globally exported ice cream declined by -6.3% from 2018 to 2019.
Among continents, suppliers in European countries generated the highest dollar worth of exported ice cream during 2019 with shipments valued at $3.3 billion or four-fifths (80%) of the global total. In second place were Asian exporters at 9.7% while 6.3% of worldwide ice cream shipments originated from North America.
Smaller percentages were provided by exporters in Oceania (mostly New Zealand and Australia) at 1.8%, Latin America (1.5%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, as well as Africa at 0.7%.
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for ice cream is 2105, That classification reads “ice cream and other edible ice whether or not containing cocoa.”
Ice Cream Exporters by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of ice cream during 2019.
- France: US$556.9 million (13.4% of exported ice cream)
- Germany: $555.7 million (13.4%)
- Belgium: $423.1 million (10.2%)
- Netherlands: $315 million (7.6%)
- United States: $250.1 million (6%)
- Italy: $242 million (5.8%)
- Poland: $202 million (4.9%)
- Spain: $165.8 million (4%)
- United Kingdom: $154.9 million (3.7%)
- Hungary: $115 million (2.8%)
- Thailand: $87.9 million (2.1%)
- Slovenia: $68.7 million (1.7%)
- Sweden: $54.4 million (1.3%)
- South Korea: $54.2 million (1.3%)
- Russia: $53 million (1.3%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 79.6% of globally exported ice cream in 2019.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing exporters of ice cream since 2015 were: Poland (up 112.9%), Slovenia (up 94.5%), Russia (up 73%) and Netherlands (up 43%).
None of the major suppliers posted declines in their international sales of ice cream.
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for ice cream 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 ice cream and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- France: US$280.6 million (net export surplus up 49.6% since 2015)
- Belgium: $228.8 million (down -1%)
- United States: $166.2 million (up 10.5%)
- Germany: $134.2 million (up 8.4%)
- Italy: $129.6 million (up 25.6%)
- Poland: $124.5 million (up 107.8%)
- Thailand: $69.1 million (up 29.4%)
- Netherlands: $64.9 million (up 5.3%)
- Hungary: $57.1 million (down -13.7%)
- Slovenia: $50.7 million (up 135.9%)
- Serbia: $35.5 million (up 123.6%)
- Turkey: $30.8 million (up 12.8%)
- Lithuania: $30 million (up 70.1%)
- South Africa: $21.5 million (up 17.2%)
- Guatemala: $19.5 million (up 83.7%)
France consistently earns the highest surplus in the international trade of ice cream. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms France’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for ice cream 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 ice cream purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United Kingdom: -US$255.6 million (net export deficit up 76.9% since 2015)
- Austria: -$81.8 million (up 27.9%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$80.6 million (down -10.6%)
- China: -$72.9 million (up 48.3%)
- Portugal: -$59 million (up 49.9%)
- Ireland: -$55.4 million (up 200.8%)
- Romania: -$54.5 million (up 82%)
- Mexico: -$51.5 million (up 6.3%)
- Denmark: -$50.7 million (down -11.8%)
- Singapore: -$40.9 million (up 23.5%)
- Australia: -$39 million (up 44.6%)
- Malaysia: -$38.8 million (up 14.4%)
- Hong Kong: -$37.1 million (up 49%)
- Slovakia: -$33.5 million (up 35.5%)
- Finland: -$33.3 million (down -9.2%)
The United Kingdom incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of ice cream. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights United Kingdom’s strong competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for ice cream-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful consumer demand.
Companies
Ice Cream Exporting Companies
According to global trading platform Alibaba, the following suppliers are examples of ice cream-trading exporters. The home-country location for each business is shown within parentheses.
- EUROBRANDS Lebensmittelgrosshandel (Germany)
- Exportame Consulting SLNE (Spain)
- Luxor Co Ltd (South Korea)
- Maggio Nicola (Italy)
- Mirawell General Trading LLC (United Arab Emirates)
- MN Ice cream (Thailand)
- NAS Gido Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi (Turkey)
- RLA Distribution Services Ltd (United States)
- SAS Khassani (France)
- UK Frozen Food Ltd (United Kingdom)
Searchable List of Ice Cream Exporting Countries in 2019
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the columns. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that 2018 data was unavailable.
| Rank | Exporter | Exported Ice Cream (US$) | 2018-9 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | France | $556,896,000 | -3.1% |
| 2. | Germany | $555,696,000 | +5.2% |
| 3. | Belgium | $423,073,000 | +1.7% |
| 4. | Netherlands | $315,028,000 | -3.1% |
| 5. | United States | $250,107,000 | +0.3% |
| 6. | Italy | $241,986,000 | -19.2% |
| 7. | Poland | $202,049,000 | +11.7% |
| 8. | Spain | $165,775,000 | -5.6% |
| 9. | United Kingdom | $154,895,000 | -4.6% |
| 10. | Hungary | $114,978,000 | -17.5% |
| 11. | Thailand | $87,862,000 | +3.2% |
| 12. | Slovenia | $68,730,000 | +12.5% |
| 13. | Sweden | $54,377,000 | -13.2% |
| 14. | South Korea | $54,183,000 | +14.7% |
| 15. | Russia | $53,034,000 | +12.5% |
| 16. | Lithuania | $50,878,000 | +3.1% |
| 17. | Serbia | $50,640,000 | +22.2% |
| 18. | Czech Republic | $46,550,000 | -3.9% |
| 19. | New Zealand | $46,244,000 | +13.2% |
| 20. | Portugal | $45,104,000 | -6.2% |
| 21. | Japan | $36,912,000 | +13.9% |
| 22. | Indonesia | $35,843,000 | +8.8% |
| 23. | Switzerland | $33,929,000 | +12.4% |
| 24. | Turkey | $33,357,000 | -3.2% |
| 25. | China | $29,835,000 | -40.4% |
| 26. | Greece | $29,765,000 | -11.9% |
| 27. | Australia | $26,744,000 | -1.9% |
| 28. | United Arab Emirates | $26,353,000 | -65% |
| 29. | Guatemala | $25,741,000 | +17.2% |
| 30. | South Africa | $24,569,000 | -4.4% |
| 31. | Croatia | $24,331,000 | +10.9% |
| 32. | Ireland | $22,231,000 | -6.6% |
| 33. | Denmark | $18,052,000 | +9.5% |
| 34. | Malaysia | $17,660,000 | -7.6% |
| 35. | Belarus | $17,608,000 | +2.8% |
| 36. | Taiwan | $15,397,000 | +60.9% |
| 37. | Philippines | $14,007,000 | +38.8% |
| 38. | Finland | $13,552,000 | +21.2% |
| 39. | Kuwait | $13,248,000 | -54.3% |
| 40. | Costa Rica | $13,186,000 | -2.5% |
| 41. | Ukraine | $12,160,000 | -8.7% |
| 42. | Canada | $10,631,000 | +29.3% |
| 43. | Latvia | $9,433,000 | -11.5% |
| 44. | Argentina | $8,335,000 | +15.2% |
| 45. | Estonia | $7,475,000 | -23.9% |
| 46. | North Macedonia | $7,294,000 | -7.2% |
| 47. | Hong Kong | $7,257,000 | +21% |
| 48. | India | $6,787,000 | +1.4% |
| 49. | El Salvador | $6,765,000 | +16.5% |
| 50. | Kazakhstan | $6,408,000 | +34.6% |
| 51. | Bulgaria | $5,623,000 | -47.1% |
| 52. | Austria | $4,760,000 | -46.1% |
| 53. | Romania | $4,478,000 | +16.9% |
| 54. | Israel | $4,169,000 | +4.1% |
| 55. | Jordan | $3,029,000 | -38.4% |
| 56. | Togo | $2,964,000 | -21.7% |
| 57. | Kyrgyzstan | $2,815,000 | -0.1% |
| 58. | Saudi Arabia | $2,771,000 | +11.4% |
| 59. | Singapore | $2,718,000 | -21.3% |
| 60. | Brazil | $2,649,000 | +180.9% |
| 61. | Luxembourg | $2,170,000 | -18.9% |
| 62. | Nicaragua | $1,875,000 | +25.2% |
| 63. | Slovakia | $1,350,000 | +134.4% |
| 64. | Trinidad/Tobago | $1,229,000 | +32.3% |
| 65. | Norway | $1,032,000 | -36.1% |
| 66. | Suriname | $1,020,000 | 0% |
| 67. | Egypt | $980,000 | -54.4% |
| 68. | Colombia | $972,000 | -4.5% |
| 69. | Dominican Republic | $648,000 | -77.1% |
| 70. | Ghana | $611,000 | +106.4% |
| 71. | Armenia | $541,000 | -19.9% |
| 72. | Chile | $540,000 | +19.2% |
| 73. | Peru | $499,000 | -45% |
| 74. | Uruguay | $404,000 | -60.5% |
| 75. | Bahrain | $292,000 | -91.8% |
| 76. | Iceland | $262,000 | -13.8% |
| 77. | Guyana | $228,000 | -76.4% |
| 78. | Vietnam | $127,000 | -60.6% |
| 79. | Faroe Islands | $126,000 | 0% |
| 80. | Zimbabwe | $101,000 | 0% |
| 81. | Turkmenistan | $95,000 | -39.1% |
| 82. | Belize | $83,000 | +151.5% |
| 83. | Cyprus | $82,000 | -49.1% |
| 84. | Morocco | $79,000 | +426.7% |
| 85. | Azerbaijan | $73,000 | -86.4% |
| 86. | Mauritius | $65,000 | +400% |
| 87. | Montenegro | $63,000 | 0% |
| 88. | Uzbekistan | $51,000 | +4.1% |
| 89. | Moldova | $42,000 | -99.5% |
| 90. | Bangladesh | $32,000 | 0% |
| 91. | Antigua/Barbuda | $27,000 | -3.6% |
| 92. | Ecuador | $25,000 | -3.8% |
| 93. | Tunisia | $25,000 | +108.3% |
| 94. | Iran | $20,000 | -100% |
| 95. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $15,000 | +200% |
| 96. | Brunei Darussalam | $13,000 | -7.1% |
| 97. | Tanzania | $10,000 | -80.8% |
| 98. | Georgia | $9,000 | 0% |
| 99. | Mozambique | $5,000 | +150% |
| 100. | Fiji | $4,000 | -99.7% |
| 101. | Zambia | $3,000 | -84.2% |
| 102. | Lebanon | $2,000 | -98.4% |
| 103. | Lesotho | $1,000 | 0% |
| 104. | Namibia | $1,000 | 0% |
See also Sugar Exports by Country, Top Cookies Exporters by Country and Supplier showroom for ice cream. Accessed on May 26, 2020
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on May 26, 2020
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 26, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on May 26, 2020
Wikipedia, Ice cream. Accessed on May 26, 2020