The overall cost of pork imports for all importing countries increased by an average 19.8% since 2018 when international purchases of pork cost $28.5 billion.
Year over year, worldwide imports of pork fell by -11% compared to $38.3 billion in 2021.
The 5 biggest markets for imported pork are Japan, mainland China, Mexico, Italy and South Korea. That powerful cohort of buyers bought 44.2% of the value of globally imported pork for 2022.
From a continental perspective, buyers in European countries imported the highest dollar worth of pork during 2022 with purchases valued at $14.2 billion or 41.8% of the world’s total. In second place were importers in Asia at 36.5% while another 14.8% of overall international pork purchases was delivered to North America.
Smaller percentages were bought by customers in Latin America (4.2%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Oceania (2.1%) led by Australia and New Zealand, and Africa (0.7%).
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 0203 for fresh, chilled or frozen swine meat.
Pork Imports by Country
Below are the 15 countries that imported the highest dollar value worth of pork during 2022.
- Japan: US$4.2 billion (12.4% of total imported pork)
- China: $3.8 billion (11.3%)
- Mexico: $2.6 billion (7.7%)
- Italy: $2.3 billion (6.9%)
- South Korea: $2 billion (6%)
- United States: $1.84 billion (5.4%)
- Poland: $1.7 billion (4.9%)
- Germany: $1.54 billion (4.5%)
- United Kingdom: $900.6 million (2.6%)
- Romania: $869.9 million (2.6%)
- France: $796.6 million (2.3%)
- Czech Republic: $788.8 million (2.3%)
- Netherlands: $758.5 million (2.2%)
- Philippines: $629.5 million (1.8%)
- Hong Kong: $617 million (1.8%)
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing markets for pork were: Mexico (up 33.8% from 2021), Philippines (up 32%), Romania (up 21.3%) and South Korea (up 18.4%).
Four major buyers posted declines in their imported pork purchases, namely mainland China (down -61.2% from 2021), Hong Kong (down -23.8%), Japan (down -4.7%) and the United Kingdom (down -1%).
By value, the listed 15 countries purchased 74.8% of all pork imported in 2022.
For a comprehensive listing of importers, please see the section Searchable List of Pork Importer Countries below.
Pork Imports into Japan
Japan’s global purchases of imported pork totaled US$4.24 billion in 2022. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which Japan imported the highest dollar value worth of pork during 2022. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country from 2021 to 2022.
- United States: US$1 billion (down -14% from 2021)
- Canada: $956.4 million (down -16.3%)
- Spain: $773.7 million (up 29.7%)
- Mexico: $567.6 million (up 3%)
- Denmark: $365.7 million (down -8.1%)
- Netherlands: $140.4 million (down -11%)
- Chile: $124.2 million (down -5.7%)
- Brazil: $96.6 million (up 65.9%)
- France: $75.7 million (up 6.7%)
- Ireland: $50.8 million (down -11.8%)
- Italy: $20.2 million (down -49.3%)
- Austria: $14 million (down -40.5%)
- Portugal: $5.7 million (down -3.1%)
- United Kingdom: $3.8 million (up 198.1%)
- Finland: $3.3 million (up 10.6%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 99.9% of pork imported by Japan in 2022.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of pork to Japan since 2022 were: United Kingdom (up 198.1%), Brazil (up 65.9%), Spain (up 29.7%) and Finland (up 10.6%).
Countries that experienced declines in the value of their pork supplied to Japanese importers included: Italy (down -49.3% from 2021), Austria (down -40.5%), Canada (down -16.3%) and the United States of America (down -14%).
Overall, the value of Japan’s imported pork fell by an average -4.7% from all supplying countries since 2021 when pork purchased cost $4.5 billion.
Pork Imports into China
Mainland China’s global purchases of imported pork totaled US$3.84 billion in 2022. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which China imported the highest dollar value worth of pork during 2022. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country from 2021 to 2022.
- Spain: US$1.1 billion (down -65.9% from 2021)
- Brazil: $995.1 million (down -39.9%)
- Denmark: $444.4 million (down -53.7%)
- Netherlands: $265.3 million (down -65.5%)
- Canada: $234 million (down -61.6%)
- United States: $212.9 million (down -76.9%)
- France: $153.3 million (down -66.4%)
- United Kingdom: $146.2 million (down -42.1%)
- Chile: $142 million (down -61.8%)
- Ireland: $78.7 million (down -57.7%)
- Mexico: $34.6 million (down -80.9%)
- Austria: $32.9 million (down -73.4%)
- Finland: $12.3 million (down -75.5%)
- Portugal: $9.5 million (down -85.1%)
- Italy: $5.6 million (down -93.7%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 99.9% of pork imported by China in 2022.
Countries that experienced declines in the value of their pork supplied to Chinese importers included: Italy (down -93.7% from 2021), Portugal (down -85.1%), Mexico (down -80.9%) and the United States of America (down -76.9%).
Overall, the value of China’s imported pork plunged by an average -61.2% from all supplying countries since 2021 when pork purchased cost $9.9 billion.
Pork Imports into Mexico
Mexico’s global purchases of imported pork totaled US$2.63 billion in 2022. Below are the top suppliers from which Mexico imported the highest dollar value worth of pork during 2022. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country from 2021 to 2022.
- United States: US$2.2 billion (up 31.7% from 2021)
- Canada: $390.2 million (up 42.9%)
- Spain: $13 million (up 937.5%)
By value, the listed countries shipped 100% of pork imported by Mexico in 2022.
Overall, the value of Mexico’s imported pork accelerated by an average 33.8% from all supplying countries since 2021 when pork purchased cost $2 billion.
Pork Imports into Italy
Italy’s global purchases of imported pork totaled US$2.34 billion in 2022. Below are the top 15 suppliers from which Italy imported the highest dollar value worth of pork during 2022. Within parenthesis is the percentage change in value for each supplying country from 2021 to 2022.
- Germany: US$766.8 million (up 2.1% from 2021)
- Netherlands: $422.4 million (up 29.7%)
- Spain: $415.5 million (up 37.2%)
- Denmark: $293 million (up 10.1%)
- France: $163 million (up 5.2%)
- Belgium: $101.8 million (up 45.4%)
- Austria: $93.3 million (up 11.4%)
- Hungary: $38.7 million (up 46.7%)
- Poland: $31.4 million (down -33.5%)
- Slovenia: $3.5 million (down -31.5%)
- Romania: $2 million (down -39.9%)
- mainland China: $1.5 million (up 1271.3%)
- Croatia: $1.5 million (up 65.9%)
- Switzerland: $1.2 million (down -26.8%)
- Chile: $900,000 (up 251.6%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 99.9% of pork imported by Italy in 2022.
Among the above countries, the fastest-growing suppliers of pork to Italy since 2022 were: mainland China (up 1,271%), Chile (up 251.6%), Croatia (up 65.9%) and Hungary (up 46.7%).
Four major providers experienced declines in the value of their pork supplied to Italian importers, namely: Romania (down -39.9% from 2021), Poland (down -33.5%), Slovenia (down -31.5%) and Switzerland (down -26.8%).
Overall, the value of Italy’s imported pork advanced by an average 14.4% from all supplying countries since 2021 when pork purchased cost $2 billion.
Searchable List of Pork Importer Countries in 2022
By value, the top 100 importers of imported pork in the following database were responsible for 99.7% of overall international spending on the commodity in 2022.
Rank | Importer | Pork Imports | 2021-2 |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Japan | $4,240,072,000 | -4.7% |
2. | China | $3,838,977,000 | -61.2% |
3. | Mexico | $2,625,986,000 | +33.8% |
4. | Italy | $2,339,092,000 | +14.4% |
5. | South Korea | $2,034,320,000 | +18.4% |
6. | United States | $1,838,868,000 | +16.8% |
7. | Poland | $1,676,761,000 | +12.4% |
8. | Germany | $1,542,076,000 | +2.9% |
9. | United Kingdom | $900,617,000 | -1% |
10. | Romania | $869,914,000 | +21.3% |
11. | France | $796,624,000 | +1.3% |
12. | Czech Republic | $788,802,000 | +14.8% |
13. | Netherlands | $758,546,000 | +12.5% |
14. | Philippines | $629,454,000 | +32% |
15. | Hong Kong | $616,990,000 | -23.8% |
16. | Canada | $560,997,000 | -13.3% |
17. | Greece | $545,894,000 | +16.8% |
18. | Australia | $522,724,000 | -0.7% |
19. | Slovakia | $395,141,000 | +8.1% |
20. | Hungary | $367,379,000 | +19.3% |
21. | Portugal | $344,936,000 | +6.2% |
22. | Austria | $334,750,000 | +11.1% |
23. | Colombia | $315,649,000 | +4.4% |
24. | Bulgaria | $295,413,000 | +8.3% |
25. | Singapore | $273,864,000 | -11.7% |
26. | Taiwan | $263,692,000 | +39.3% |
27. | Croatia | $262,267,000 | +21.5% |
28. | Dominican Republic | $249,525,000 | +75.4% |
29. | Spain | $246,308,000 | -0.4% |
30. | Chile | $239,333,000 | -38.5% |
31. | Belgium | $232,514,000 | -5.1% |
32. | Sweden | $201,110,000 | +4.8% |
33. | Vietnam | $185,857,000 | -51.9% |
34. | Lithuania | $178,584,000 | +15.2% |
35. | Denmark | $169,371,000 | -7.7% |
36. | New Zealand | $149,097,000 | -21.5% |
37. | Ireland | $141,362,000 | -14.9% |
38. | Slovenia | $117,180,000 | +5.4% |
39. | Serbia | $115,862,000 | +63.5% |
40. | Uruguay | $104,458,000 | +2.1% |
41. | Honduras | $103,621,000 | -11.8% |
42. | Malaysia | $98,105,000 | +92.2% |
43. | Ukraine | $96,524,000 | +28.5% |
44. | Argentina | $92,736,000 | -14.1% |
45. | Latvia | $88,913,000 | +14.2% |
46. | Angola | $76,083,000 | +34.5% |
47. | Montenegro | $63,266,000 | +35.5% |
48. | Guatemala | $60,370,000 | -9.9% |
49. | Estonia | $60,086,000 | +9.3% |
50. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $52,332,000 | +31.9% |
51. | South Africa | $51,651,000 | -28.8% |
52. | Finland | $50,721,000 | +17.1% |
53. | Macao | $49,581,000 | -14.5% |
54. | Costa Rica | $43,711,000 | -6.6% |
55. | United Arab Emirates | $38,796,000 | -26.5% |
56. | Cuba | $38,479,000 | +229.8% |
57. | El Salvador | $37,278,000 | -3.5% |
58. | Georgia | $35,318,000 | +19.9% |
59. | Congo | $32,421,000 | -12.7% |
60. | Nicaragua | $29,721,000 | -5% |
61. | Russia | $29,334,000 | +42% |
62. | Moldova | $28,740,000 | +36.7% |
63. | North Macedonia | $26,772,000 | -8.6% |
64. | Armenia | $23,317,000 | +18.7% |
65. | Cyprus | $22,903,000 | +19.9% |
66. | Luxembourg | $21,581,000 | -0.3% |
67. | Mongolia | $20,868,000 | +3% |
68. | Kazakhstan | $19,508,000 | +23.4% |
69. | Panama | $19,502,000 | -0.1% |
70. | Peru | $19,399,000 | -17.7% |
71. | Trinidad/Tobago | $16,586,000 | -1.6% |
72. | Indonesia | $15,830,000 | +77.2% |
73. | Gabon | $14,210,000 | -47.3% |
74. | Democr. Rep. Congo | $13,551,000 | +114.6% |
75. | Bahamas | $13,225,000 | +4.8% |
76. | Switzerland | $12,937,000 | -39.7% |
77. | Norway | $12,460,000 | -61.2% |
78. | Belarus | $12,357,000 | -87.3% |
79. | Curaçao | $12,168,000 | +11.4% |
80. | Papua New Guinea | $11,265,000 | +5.5% |
81. | Malta | $10,288,000 | -11.6% |
82. | French Polynesia | $10,202,000 | -6.6% |
83. | Jamaica | $7,881,000 | +67.7% |
84. | Aruba | $7,297,000 | -10.7% |
85. | Barbados | $7,197,000 | +8.7% |
86. | Iceland | $6,577,000 | +66% |
87. | Greenland | $6,378,000 | -0.7% |
88. | Namibia | $5,917,000 | -45.6% |
89. | Mozambique | $5,806,000 | -7.9% |
90. | Andorra | $5,679,000 | +7.8% |
91. | Laos | $5,254,000 | +441.1% |
92. | Haiti | $5,129,000 | +21.3% |
93. | Brunei Darussalam | $5,026,000 | -20.6% |
94. | Mauritius | $4,861,000 | +46.1% |
95. | Equatorial Guinea | $4,727,000 | -32.5% |
96. | Liberia | $4,287,000 | +1.3% |
97. | Lesotho | $4,005,000 | +263.4% |
98. | Bhutan | $3,789,000 | -36% |
99. | Maldives | $3,695,000 | +17.5% |
100. | Cabo Verde | $3,600,000 | +25.9% |
Focusing on the 100 top buyers of imported pork, the fastest growers were Laos (up 441.1% from 2021), Lesotho (up 263.4%), Cuba (up 229.8%), Democratic Republic of the Congo (up 114.6%), Malaysia (up 92.2%) and Indonesia (up 77.2%).
You can change the presentation order in the above table by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the columns.
An entry of 0% in the right-most column means no 2021 data was available.
See also Pork Exports by Country, China’s Top Trading Partners, Japan’s Top Trading Partners, Italy’s Top Trading Partners and Germany’s Top Trading Partners
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Imports – Commodities. Accessed on August 1, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on August 1, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on August 1, 2023